(. c< < \ « cc Cf c< Ci C( c < • (A c« W- ( (4 w*' c (i T. D. WEBSTER. ANTIQUARIAN fV EXPORT BOOKSELLER, MtRt Manor. Diss. Norfolk. ^s. «*^ <; »-_<; > r-^ cINIU'RC;H AND lONDON V AN INQUIRl 'J i> r< ^'^" INTO THE (2 7^' EESIJLTS OF EMANCIPATION,* By CHARLES BUXTON. A HUNDEED years ago, when black men were seldom seen north of the Tweed, an old Scotch gentlewoman meeting a negro in the street, cast up her eyes and hands, exclaiming, " Hech, sirs, what canna be made for the penny 1 " And well might the British people do the same. At a cost, not of one penny, but of five thousand million pennies, we have pro- duced that curious specimen of the human race, the free negro of the West Indies. Such was the outlay. Now, what is the result 1 What sort of thing have we got for our money ? Was that a wise investment of capital ] The reply of some high authorities has been given, and is this — Our islands, they say, the richest and loveliest in the world, are fallen from wealth to ruin — crumbling, deserted, desolate towns — empty harbours — trade gone — agriculture at death's door — the old staples vanished away — the own- ers of these once fertile lands languishing in poverty, or dead of broken hearts — the negroes, for whom all was done, "sunk up to the ears in pumpkin," growing every day more savage, more idle, more beastly. Such, they tell us, is the work that our philanthropy has Avorked out under the sun. Now, is that so, or is it not so ? The subject deserves some thought. England's giving freedom to her slaves was an act unique in the history of man. We know not where an example can be found of so noble a sacrifice made by a whole people. As to its prudence, some may think one thing, and some an- * This Essay appeai'ed in the April number of the Edinburgh Revieio, 185!>. It has been thought worth while to prefix it to these Memoirs, in order to shew, from irrefragable statistics and official reports, that the work to which my father's life was given has not proved, as miuiy suppose, a failure. IV INQUIRY INTO otiier ; but no man can lay it at the door of any selfish feel- ing. The people of the United Kingdom believed slavery to be cruel. It seemed to them a breach of the law of love which the gospel had laid down. For these reasons, and for these alone, they made up their minds to be rid of it. But they were not hurried away by their zeal ; they chose to pay the cost themselves ; and ^20,000,000 was paid down by them to get the slaves set free. To us, who saw this done, it may seem an every-day affair. But seen from afar, in the coming ages, it may strike men as sublime. Was it, after all, an act of shining folly 1 Has it really A\Tought woe and not weal in the world ] It is worth while to find out the true reply to these questions. For if all this were so, then that noble old maxim, that "Right never comes wi-ong," would be overthrown. Here we have a nation plain- ly setting itself to do right, " because right was right ; " be- cause it thought more of what was due to God and man, than of itseK. Has this been a failure 1 has this done harm and not good 1 then it may be unwise to do right. Wrong, perhaps, might as well be kept going. The laws of God ami the rights of man may be well enough in their way, but should we obey the one, or observe the other, we may find ourselves made fools of. We are far indeed from denying that the owners of West Indian property have gone through a time of deep distress. The cry of despair that rose from them in 1847, and the next years, was appalling. Many and many a family once blessed witli opulence sank into poverty, while hundreds of others liad their fortunes shattered, if not destroyed. No wonder such an overthrow should have been loudly noised, not only through England, but through the world, and that emanci- pation slioukl be looked upon as having given the death-blow to our once thriving colonies. People were not likely to boar in mind that, liowever sad tliese events might be, still the great outcry arose fourteen years after slavery (ten years after the apprenticcsliip) liad been done away, and at once upon a change of a wholly ditfercnt kind. Nor could they have been expected to reiiiember that the cries of distress came, not from the whole iiojiulation of those islands, but mainly from the ))ro])rietors living in England, whose voice tlicrcfore rang the louder, l»iit niiglit not be the voice of the mass of the jieoijlc. It was natin-al for the world to think that the whole of our sugar ci;lonies were sinking into ruin, though the out- THE RESULTS OF EMANCIPATION. V cry came from some of them, but not from others. It was natural for the world to think that when it no longer heard "that 'most outrageous dreadful yelling cry" (to quote the Fairy Queen,) it was hushed in death, though in truth it ceased because the pinch was over. No wonder the world fancies that our sugar colonies are as good as swept off the face of the earth, though in fact they are swiftly becoming a gem in the British crown, of higher value than they ever were before. A long and thorough investigation of the case has borne us irresistibly to the conclusion, that in these assumptions the world has been wrong ; and if the reader will go with us through the following pages, we think he will agree with us in believing that, even if we set aside all thoughts but thoughts of pounds, shillings, and pence — as a dry question of economy — emancipation has joa/c?; that it was an act of prudence for which we, as a nation of shopkeepers, need not blush before that golden god whom we are thought to wor- ship so eagerly. We shall bring forward what seem to us conclusive reasons for the persuasion that, had England not cared a jot for those noble principles that really nerved her to the work, had she only kept a shrewd look-out for the main chance, it was not weak but wise of her to free her slaves. This, then,- is the plain question to which we have sought out the reply. Taking no thought, for the nonce, of huma- nity, morality, Christianity — looking to the pocket alone — has emancipation answered, or been a blunder 1 Good and kindly meant as it undoubtedly was, is the world the worse off for it, or the better off for it ? Did the philanthropists ruin the West Indies 1 or did they save the West Indies from imminent, irretrievable ruin, and set them on the road to a prosperity at once sound and splendid ? Let that be the test of the great experiment of 1834. Has it plunged the former slave colonies into hopeless ruin ] then never mind its noble- ness, let it stand condemned. But if the distress which fell on the West Indies in 1847 can be clearly traced to other causes ; if it was only a passing storm ; if, those other causes being spent, freedom is now working out a well-being that was unknown in the days of slavery — then, we say, let eman- cipation stand approved in the sight of all the world. And this it is which the facts before us seem to prove. They shew that slavery was bearing our colonies down to ruiii with awful speed ; that had it lasted but another half VI INQUIRY INTO century, they must have sunk beyond recovery. On the other hand, that now, under freedom and free trade, they are grow- ing day by day more rich and prosperous ; with spreading trade, with improving agriculture, with a more educated, in- dustrious, and virtuous people ; while the comfort of the quondam slaves is increased beyond the power of words to portray. Never was a more radical revolution made in the fortunes of a whole people, than when the 800,000 British negroes stepped from slavery into freedom. When the clock began to strike twelve on the night of July 31, 1S34, they were, in the eye of the law, things, chattels, beasts of burden, the mere property of others. When it had ceased to sound, they were for the first time, not only free men but men; standing on the same level as those who had formerly owned them. The whole form of things became so thoroughly new, that it is now no easy matter to paint oneself a living picture of a state of society which has been so utterly swept away ; but of its more salient features hints enough remain. And we must say that in glancing through the piles of information on the state of the slave colonies accumulated dining the anti-sla- very struggle, we have been amazed at the breadth and depth of the cruelty which slavery was shewn to beget. There are those who jog along in the easy and pleasant belief that the plantations had been under kindly government, and that the tales of barbarity that used to be rife years and years ago, were for the most part mere wind. We have had but too much reason to change our minds on this head. And yet, though the shadows of slavery were dark, and too often ter- rible, there seems to have been a good play of sunlight upon it as well ; and, luckily, a charming picture of the bright side of slavery has been preserved for us by " Monk" Lewis, who was not only a nian of poetical feeling, but of a most kind nature, and who went to see his estates mainly from a sense of duty towards his slaves. He reached Jamaica on the 1st of January, ( 1 81 G,) the severe work of crop time just over, and the negroes at their best and merriest. The air was delicious, ■^rhe fragrance of the sweet wood and other scented trees put him in mind of "the buxom air, embalmed with odours" of I'aradisc, while the scenery was highly picturesque, from the lively green of the vegetation and the hermitage like appear- ,'iiK'e of the negro buildings, all situated in little gardens, and embosomed in swcct-smelling shrubberies. The joy of the THE RESULTS OP EMANCIPATION. VH slaves at seeing raassa, if not deep, was at least noisy. They sang, danced, shouted, and tumbled over each other, and rolled about on the ground, while every man, woman, and child chattered its loudest. The mothers held up their little shining black imps, grinning from ear to ear, with " Look, massa, look here ; him nice lilly neger for massa." Nor was female loveliness wanting to complete the picture ; but was well represented by Mary Wiggins, whose complexion had no yellow in it ; teeth admirable, eyes mild and bright, and a face merely broad enough to give it " all possible softness and grandness of contour." Many old servants of the family (which at that time lived on the estate) came to see him, and shewed such warmth and enthusiasm that after the cold manners of England the contrast was infinitely agreeable, and his heart expanded in the sunshine of the kind looks and words which met him at every turn, and seemed to wait for his smiles as anxiously as if they were so many diamonds. On three sides the landscape was bounded by purple moun- tains, and the variety of occupations going on all around gave an inconceivable air of life and animation to the whole scene, especially as all those occupations looked cleanly. The tradespeople were dressed in jackets and trousers, either white, or of red and sky-blue stripe. Here a band of negroes carrying the ripe canes on their heads to the mill ; another set conveying away the trash, after the juice had been ex- tracted ; flocks of turkeys sheltering from the heat under the trees; the river filled with ducks and geese; the coopers and carpenters hammering at the puncheons ; carts drawn, some by six, some by eight oxen, bringing loads of Indian corn from the fields ; the black children gathering it in to the granary, or quarrelling with pigs as black as themselves, who were equally busy in stealing the corn whenever the children were looking another way : such was the scene which met Mr Lewis's eyes as he stood in his veranda; and, "in short," he adds, " a plantation possesses all the movement and in- terest of a farm, without its dung, and its stench, and its dirty accompaniments." Such was the Arcadian felicity of a slave plantation under the eye of a kind and opulent owner. But it would seem that even such an Eden as this shared the lot of the rest of the earth, of which Goethe's angel Gabriel tells us — " Es wechselt Paradieses-Helle Mic tiefer schauervoller Nacht." viii iNQcriEY into For tliougli under the mild sway of Mr Lewis all flowed so sweetly, by degrees he found things out that did not please him. Nay, his own way of putting it is, that " no- thing could equal" his " anger and surprise " when he dis- covered what had been going on before his coming was looked for. His father had always filled his letters with the most positive orders for the good treatment of the slaves, and had chosen a first-rate agent. Yet this man, from mere sloth, had let an overseer treat them so savagely that at one time " they had been driven absolutely into rebellion, and almost every slave of respectability had been compelled to become a runaway." . ..." If I had not come to Jamaica myself," he adds, " in all probability I should never have had the most distant idea hoiv abominably the poor creatures had been ill used." And then his own agent said nothing plainly, but shook his head, and gave poor Lewis evidently to understand that the slaves could not be governed without the cart-whip. In fact, the need of that stimulus soon grew plain, for the production of sugar fell from thirty-three hogs- heads a-week (before his coming) down to thirteen ! " The negroes certainly are perverse beings," is the reflection he made. But he was not long in finding that whites are " per- verse beings " too, for some alarmed planters actually wanted the grand jury at Montego Bay to prosecute him for over- indulgence to his own slaves ! "While to his great morti- fication, on visiting his other estate, which he " had ex- pected to find a perfect paradise," it proved to be " a hell upon earth." And what a hell upon earth a plantation was, under a sharp master, is so vividly set forth in a plain, unvarnished account ■\\Titten by Mr Whitely, who was book-keeper (clerk) on the New Ground Plantation, near St Ann's Bay, in Jamaica, in 1832, that we shall venture to extract one of the many scenes that he describes : — "12lh instance.— The first of these two cases was that of a married woman, the mother of several children. She was brought up to the overseer's door oue inurninp, and one of the drivers who came with her accused her of having stolen a fowl. Some feathers, said to have been found in her hut, were exhibited as evidence of her guilt. The over- Beer asked her if she could pay for the fowl. She said something in rejily wliich I did not clearly understand. The question was repeated, and a similar reply again given. The overseer then said, ' 1 ut her down.' On this the woman set up a shriek, and rent the ;iir with her cries of terror. Her countenance grew quite ghastly, and her lijis be- came pale and livid. I was close to her, and particularly noticed her THE EEStTLTS OF EMANCIPATION. ix remarkable aspect and expression of countenance. The overseer swore fearfully, and repeated his order, * Put her down ! ' The woman was then extended on the ground and held down by two negroes. Her gown and shift were literally torn from her back, and, thus brutally exposed, she was subjected to the cart-whip. The punishment inflicted on this poor creature was inhumanly severe. She was a woman somewhat plump in her person, and the whip being wielded with great vigour, every stroke cut deep into the flesh. She writhed and twisted her body violently under the infliction, — moaning loudly, but uttering no excla- mation in words, except once, when she cried out entreating that her nakedness might not be indecently exposed, — appearing to suffer from matronly modesty even more acutely on account of her indecent ex- posure, than the cruel laceration of her body. But the overseer only noticed her appeal by a brutal reply, and the flogging continued. Dis- gusted as I was, I witnessed the whole to a close. I numbered the lashes, stroke by stroke, and counted //<^, thus exceeding by eleven the number allowed by the colonial law to be inflicted at the arbitrary will of the master or manager. This was the only occasion on which 1 saw the legal number of thirty-nine lashes exceeded; but I never knew the overseer or head book-keeper give less than thirty-nine. This poor victim was shockingly lacerated. When permitted to rise she again shrieked violently. The overseer swore roughly, and threatened if she was not quiet, to put her down again. He then ordered her to be taken to the hot-house, or hospital, and put in the stocks. She was to be continued in the stocks for several nights, while she worked in the yard during the day at light work. She was too severely mangled to be able to go to the field for some days." Nor could these sickening severities have been at all un- usual. For in the four " crown colonies," * the home govern- ment was able to do what it pleased, and accordingly it re- quired every planter to give in sworn returns of the punish- ments inflicted on his estate. By these sworn returns there were registered, in the two years 1828-9, 68,921 punishments. The law allowed, in the crown colonies, twenty-five stripes to a punishment, which limit was incessantly passed. Taking the average, however, at but twenty stripes, this puts the total amount of stripes inflicted, in regular floggings, for these four colonies alone, in two years, at no less than one milUon three hundred and fifty thousand ! Twenty-five thousand and ninety-foiu" punishments, or, at that rate, half a mUlion of those stripes were sworn to as having been in- flicted up6n/(S??i«/e5.t That the whip, and the dread of the whip, must have caused an unspeakable amount of physical and moral misery, is then plain enough. In this respect emancipation has be- yond all question caused a vast accession to human happi- ness, in that it has substituted the attraction of rewards for ♦ Guiana, (at that time divided,) Trinidad, St Lucia. t Protector's EeportB, Pari. Papers. X INQUIRY INTO tlie compulsion of terror. But by far the most portentous and striking of the features of West Indian society under slavery was this, that while the free negroes were steadily advancing in number, the slaves were dying off at a rate which was described at the time as " appalling." It was not by stories of atrocious cruelty that the eyes of Parliament were opened to the wickedness and folly of sla- very. If any of our readers would turn to the pages of Hansard, they would find that what gave the death-blow to slaverj'', in the minds of English statesmen, was the popula- tion return, which shewed the fact, " the appalling " fact, that although only eleven out of the eighteen islands had sent them in, yet in those eleven islands the slaves had de- creased in twelve years by no less than 60,219 : namely, from 558,194 to 497,975 !* Had similar returns been procured from the other seven colonies, (including Mauritius, Antigua, Barbadoes, and Grenada,) the decrease must have been little, if at all, less than 100,000 ! Now it was plain to every one that if this were really so, the system could not last. The driest economist would allow that it would not pay to let the working-classes be slaughtered. To work the labouring men of our West Indies to death might bring in a good re- turn for a while, but could not be a profitable enterprise in the long run. Accordingly, this was the main, we had almost said the only, topic of the debates on slavery in 1831 and 1832. Is slavery causing a general massacre of the working classes in our sugar islands, or is it noti was a question worth debating, in the pounds, sliillings, and pence view, as well as in the moral one. And debated it was, long and fiercely. The result was the full establishment of the dreadful fact. I'he slaves, as Mr Marryatt said, were " dying like rotten {sheep." Whatever, then, may be said for West Indian slavery, this damning thing must be said against it, that the slaves ivere dtjxwj of it. Then came emancipation. The tide at once turned. In the next twelve years, there was an increase of 54,070 in tlie number of the negroes of but ten colonies, (no return liaving been sent from tlie larger ones.) This one fact is enough by itself to justify emancipation. Whatever evils might have sprung from that act, nothing could be so bad for both master and men as to have all the latter killed • Pnrl. Papers— Population RotMnis for Iho West Indies. Of course tho do- crcuto by munumibtiiuu io not iucludud. THE RESULTS OF EMANCIPATION. XI off. Yet sucli was tlie nmit towards wliicli things were actu- ally tending, and that swiftly. Had the same rate of de- crease gone on, one century would have seen the extinction of slavery, by the extinction of the slaves. We put it to the good sense of our readers, whether it would have answered to let this state of things proceed. We have shewn, then, how deep and how murderous was the wretchedness into which the working-classes of the West Indies was thrust by slavery. We have given some glimpses of the oppression they endured, and how they perished under it. So far, then, as the mass of the peoj^le went, it plainly was not only a good but a wise thing to cut their bonds. And, perhaps, now-a-days, it may seem strange that it should ever have been wished to keep such a state of things going, for the sake of a small body of gentlemen. But what made the matter wholly unbearable was, that it had not even the poor merit of enriching those for whose good the system was held to. Never did the truth come out with greater clear- ness than in the West Indies, that it is short-sighted folly to thrust aside natural arrangements, and set up artificial ones in their stead. Here was a body of men owning some of the richest land in the world. They had plenty of labour- ers, and might lash as much work out of them as they pleased. They had a tight monopoly, so tight that not even the sugar of England's other dominions of India or Singa- pore was allowed to compete. Yet, despite all this, even from the beginning of the century, the planters were con- tinually laying before the Colonial Secretary and Parliament memorials which might truly be said to have been " written within and without, with lamentation and mourning and woe." Even in 1805, before the abolition of the African slave trade, the planters described their condition to be one of in- creasing embarrassment and impending ruin, as indeed it was. If we reproduced these now forgotten complaints of the planters, they would seem worse bores than Cowper's friend, who " thought he should have died, he was so bad — His peevish hearers almost wish'd he had." We will only therefore shew what the pecuniary condition of the planters was in 1830, when slavery and monopoly were at their zenith. Nor let it be said that their deep distress was owing to the anti-slavery agitation. They do not so much as allude to it. XU. INQUIRY INTO Lord Chandos, in 1830, presented a petition from the West India merchants and planters, setting forth "the extreme distress under which they labour;" and he declared in his speech that it was " not possible for them to bear up against such a pressure any longer." . . . . " They are reduced to a state in which they are obliged earnestly to solicit relief from Parliament." Mr Bright said, "The distress of the West India colonial body is unparalleled in the country. Many families who formerly lived in comparative affluence are reduced to absolute penury." The West India Reporter also quotes a report on the commercial state of the West Indies, which said, " There are the strongest concurrent testimonies and proofs that, unless some speedy and efficient measures of relief are adopted, the ruin of a great number of the planters must inevitably very soon take place." ^lean- while, production was decreasing as well. Thus in the five years ending with 1820, the export of sugar from Jamaica had been 585,172 hogsheads ; but had fallen to 493,784 in the five years ending with 1830, — a decrease of no less than 91,388 hogsheads. Nay, in the ten years ending with 1830, the decrease was no less than 201,843 hogsheads from the amount in the ten years ending with 1820.* Another fact plainly shews that these distresses would only have grown deeper and heavier had slavery been allowed to go on. In the Dutch colony of Surinam, the very same ruin has come on, which befell our own islands. The fact that slavery was left standing has made not the least difference. Here we have a large colony, with slavery preserved in all its force and beauty. And what is the result 1 " Out of 917 plantations, 630 have been totally abandoned ! " " Of the re- mainder, G5 grow nothing but wood or provisions." And the small balance arc stated to be on the road to destruction. Tlie state of things, then, with which the statesmen of 1833 had to grapple was this : — A system kept going by the sheer force of the law, which allowed no rights whatever to some fi00,()00 serfs, which regarded tliem as beasts of burden, made for nothing but to enrich a few English families by tlicir forced toil; which was slaughtering these workmen ; which at tlie sann^ time had brought down their owners to a state of " un))aralleled" distress; had reduced these noble- men and gentlemen of England to the degrading necessity of "earnestly" begging i'arliamcnt for "relief;' and was * Appendix. Bigclow's "Jamaica." THE RESULTS OF EMANCIPATION". XUl steadily diminishing tlie productive power of these fertile islands. Such was the result of the defiance that had been hurled at the laws of nature. Massacre of the working class ; ruin of the proprietors ; such was the work that sla- very and monopoly were doing under the sun. And this is the state of things to which many eyes still look back with tender regrets ! Yet Mr Carlyle himself, the chief hater of the philanthropists, with his wonted force, has told us that— " To prosper in this world, to gain felicity, victory, and improvement, either for a man or a nation, there is but one thing requisite, — that the man or nation can discern what the true regulations of the universe are in regard to him and his pursuits, and can faithfully and steadily follow these. These will lead him to victory. Whoever it may be that sets him in the way of these .... sets him in the sure way to please the Author of this universe, and is his friend of friends. And, again, who- ever does the contrary is, for a like reason, his enemy of enemies. This may be taken as fixed." Taken as fixed it certainly may be ; and fixed it plainly was in the West Indies, where the artificial arbitrary inter- ference of law with the natural freedom of man and freedom of trade, was bringing about the extinction of the working class, and was whirling their masters along to utter ruin. [In the original Essay there follows, at this point, an in- vestigation into the history of the West Indies duruig the calamitous period which ensued after the destruction of their monopoly in 1846 ; and which leads to the conclusion, that so rotten and ruinous was the state of afi'airs generated by slavery and monopoly together, that a collapse, sooner or later, was inevitable, and almost (as in Ireland) a great good, as clearing the ground for a happier order of things.*] And now let us bid adieu to " the dreadful past." Those times, thank God, are clean gone for ever. Never again in the West Indies will the hand of man be chained, or his in- dustry cramped, by the law of England. That wickedness, that folly, is dead : and the misery they caused, that, too, is over. The anguish of the slave, his cry of " Think me no man 1 " as his flesh was torn by the lash, is heard no more. His former owner, impoverished, broken-hearted, has passed away. The old order has given place to new. But here we come to the main question of all, — to the question. Was that crash of 1847 but a passing hurricane, or was it the beginning of an unchangeable doom 1 Are the West Indies ruined ? * My present limits compel me to omit this portion; but the whole Essay has been rciJublished by Messrs Longman. Xiv INQUIRY INTO Was their knell sounded by the philanthropists and free- traders, who broke the slave's bonds, and stripped those islands of Protection t Is it true that the West Indies are, year by year, sinking deeper and deeper into barbarism and poverty, or has the groundwork been laid of a great and sound well-being 1 But for the irresistible force of the official reports and statistics we shall bring forward, we might hardly dare to utter our reply. So little has the eye of this country been drawn to the West Indies since the time of their tribulation, that few are aware of what has been since going on ; and the world does not dream but that, as their groans are no longer heard, they are silent in death. And yet, in truth, the West Indies are rising with great speed to a height of wealth, hap- piness, and comfort, unknown to them before. The two gi-eat experiments, the experiment of emancipation and the experiment of free trade, have been followed by a success which, for a while, was dashed with disappointment, but which, year by year, is growing more and more decisive. The application of sound principles, though it may have hastened a catastrophe which could not have been long delayed ; though, as Mr Bigelow says, it " precipitated a result which was inevitable," yet now is bringing our sugar islands round to a state of true prosperity. We have already remarked that, when the artificial com- pulsion Avhich had concentrated almost the whole labouring force of the slave colonies on the one work of sugar-making, — when that artificial compulsion was taken away, there could not fail to be a redistribution of labour. We have pointed out that it was desirable, as well as inevitable, that a variety of work should take the place of that sameness. In fact, the free-trader condemns Protection on that very ground, (amongst others,) that it sets men to work at one kind of production, in lieu of those other kinds for which the soil and the climate would be more fit. We should not, there- fore, have folt any disappointment had other occupations almost wholly displaced the production of the old staples. It would not have liecn the smallest proof that our islands were ruined. It might liave come from a wiser and more profitable omploynicnt of labour. This, however, lias not been the result. Strangely enough, frcedt)m of labour and of trade have not lessened but have actually increased the pro- duction of sugar in our former slave colonies ! In the last THE RESULTS OF EMANCIPATION. XV two clear years of slavery, (1832 and 1833,) they exported to Great Britain, 8,471,744 cwt. In the two years 1856, 1857, they exported to Great Britain alone, 8,736,654 cwt.* And besides that, a large trade, altogether new, has sprung up with Australia, the United States, and other countries, of which we have no account. And more striking stiU is the result, if we leave out the one island of Jamaica, where mismanagement and financial dis- orders (as we shall shew presently) have clogged her grievously. Passing by that one island, and taking into account the other sixteen, we find, that whereas, in the last six years of slavery, they exported on an average 3,007,782 1 cwt. of sugar, in the last fom' years. Great Britian alone has received from them 4,055,521 cwt., besides their new trade to foreign lands. To this it may be objected that we include Mauritius, which had the advantage of a large importation of coolies, by whom the sugar is mainly produced. That is true. But it is to be borne in mind that the influx of free labour is ex- actly one of those advantages of which a land is debarred by slavery. It is a part of the curse of slavery that it repels the free man. When we are told that to judge of the effect of emancipation we must exclude those colonies that imported coolies, we reply at once that this useful importation has been one of the many blessings that freedom has brought in her train. But waiving this, and excluding the Mauritius as well as Jamaica, the remaining fifteen sugar islands produced in the three last years, (1855-6-7,) 7,427,618 cwt. against 7,405,849, in the last three years of slavery. It is plain, then, that as regards seventeen out of the eighteen islands, more wealth is produced, even of that particular species Avhich might have been expected to fall off. It is so important to give a correct idea of the real ultimate effect of free labour and free trade upon our West Indies, that, at the risk of seeming tedious, we shall venture to give a series of extracts from the governors' reports, describing the state and prospects of each colony. But lest it should be thought that these extracts are carefully culled to produce a particular impression, and that if the reader had the whole reports before him he would find complaints and lamentations, we may at once say, that they appear to us to be fair samples * Sugar Return, 1858. f This average is given in "The State of the West Indies in 1855," a Colonial- Office document, not published, p. 19. XVI INQTnRY INTO of the views entertained by the Governors, and also by other gentlemen acquainted with the West Indies. The language of complaint is no longer heard. Throughout these colonies hope and congratulation seem to have taken the place of irritation and despair.* " Antigua. — Satisfactory evidence is afforded, by the reve- nue returns, of increase in trade and mercantile business, consequent upon the revival of agricultural prosperity." t " Bahamas. — The rapidity with which these islands are ad- vancing is indicated by the fact that the exports and im- ports rose from £201,497 in 1854, to £304,421 in 1855, an in- crease of £102,924 in one year. Twenty-three vessels were built in the colony in the year 1855. J The Governor refers, in 1851, to the 'great and important change for the better' in the condition of the people, which he mainly attributes to improved education." '' JSarbadoes. — 1853. 'Vast increase of trade.' ' So far the success of cultivation by free labour in Barbadoes is unques- tionable.' 'In 1851 more sugar shipped from this island than in any one year since it has been peopled ; and it is a remarkable fact that there ■will be more labourers' sugar made this year than previously.' " "Sugar exported in 1842, 21,545 hogsheads; in 1852, 48,785 ; the 'increase being 27,240 hogsheads.' " In 1858, "a great increase in the value of the exports." "The large proportion of land acquired by the labouring classes furnishes striking evidence of their industry." Dominica. — 1853. "The iady maintenance of production is full of promise as to the future." § The exports shew a considerable increase under heads of sugar, rum, coffee, cocoa, oranges, fruits, hides, hard wood, and cotton. 1857. " Very considerable increase in revenue, and an equally marked im- provement in the amount of imports." The Governor also dwells on the industry of the bulk of the population, and in the great amount of general comfort and independence among the labouring class, in which their industry has re- sulted. || " The native labourer, whoso growing independence, manifested in the ' tmall patches of caues and little wooden mills here and there dotting • Wc liavc alwayK t.ikoii llio last ac- tlio later tho report the more gratify- count wo could find; but very often iiiffitis found to bo. tliolJovcniorHHcnd reports full of local t Hcport, 18.'>8. J Ibid. 1856. nffairB, with no rofcruiico to the gone- g Keport, 1854. || Report, 1858. rul btuto of tho ialund. lu all cuuea, THE RESULTS OF EMANCIPATION". XVU the chequered plain around,' the significance of which was so pointedly alluded to in the last despatch of your Excellency's predecessor, has risen a step higher, and we now see him becoming the lessee of large sugar plantations regularly established, with all the usual appliances. As witness, for example, the lessee of Hope Vale Estate, containing 492 acres, with water mill and works complete ; the lessee of Perseverance Estate, containing 522 acres, with steam engine and other apparatus complete; and the lessee of Mount Hardman, formerly a sugar estate, and lately a cattle farm, with 400 acres of pasture and wood, soon to be revived into its former state of flourishing luxuriance." From Grenada -vve liear (1858) that "contentment appears to pervade all classes of the community. A proprietary body of considerable magnitude and importance has already risen from the labouring class. State of the finances most satis- factory," — owing to augmentation in the imports. Some re- marks on the want of labour, but the trade of the island rose in the last two years of which we have returns, (1851 and 1852,) from £205,282 to £293,696, an increase of £88,414. In the Tivies of October 15, 1858, the Grenada Report is that " a greatly extended surface is covered by (sugar) culti- vation." A considerable increase is noted in the exports of sugar, rum, and cocoa. Guiana. — None of the West Indies have gone through a harder struggle. " The fall of prices in 1847 and 1848 was so sudden and so enormous as to have almost annihilated the colony at that crisis," writes the Governor in 1852 ; but he goes on to state, that now " the revenue is flourishing, population augmenting, education spreading, crime diminish- ing, and trade increasing." Jamaica. — This island has suffered far more severely, and has progressed far more slowly thf i any other. Sir Henry Barkly, the ablest Governor she has had, attributes this depression mainly to the glaring defects of her system of government ; and Sir Charles Grey speaks of it in the same terms. "There is," he says, "no system or consistency whatever in the conduct of the financial affairs of the colony, nor any recognised organ of government or legislature which has the power to bring about effective improvements." Some useful changes, however, have lately been made, and a decided improvement is shemng itself in the exports and imports of the colony. Montserrat. — After referring to " the improved and im- proving state of the community, as allowed on all hands," and giving various details, the Governor says, (in 1853,) " So much for the increase of confidence, enterprise, and industry B XVm INQUIRY INTO in Montserrat. No island in these seas exhibits a more de- cisive tendency to social and moral regeneration and improve- ment. The rural population are quiet, contented, and orderly. Their condition one of great comfort." A new system of taxation (as we understand, throwing it off imports upon real property) came into operation in June 1856, and with such strong and powerful effect, that the imports more than doubled in value in the course of the year ! Xevis. — The case of this island is peculiarly interesting, because in it an experiment has been tried in taxation, which may perhaps some day become generally adopted throughout the world. Things in Nevis had got to such a desperate state — they were, in fact, past all bearing — that at last Mr President Seymour, a gentleman of remarkable boldness and vigour, induced the legislature to consent to a radical change in the fiscal system. The import duties were totally abolish- ed : and a tax of 20 per cent placed on rentals. Small as the field was in which this experiment was tried, its astonishing results are worth noting by statesmen. The new system came into play, March 1856. In that year the imports rose from =£19,728 to ^34,449. New shops were speedily opened. House-rent rose threefold. The sound of the hammer was heard, and the smell of fresh paint expe- rienced, where all had been crumbling decay. " The roads appear as if the greater part of the population had new clothed themselves, and in the harbour, so often deserted, I now count ten ships of considerable burden." * St Kiits. — "A larger quantity of sugar is produced now than in the time of slavery," f (though on a smaller area.) "The agricultural prospects of the island are most encouraging. Its financial condition continues satisfactory; so do the edu- cation returns. The whole trade increased from £246,536, in 1856, to £352,769, in 1857 — an increase of £106,233 in one year ! Attendance in schools steadily increasing ; % crime steadily diminishing.'' § St Lxicia. — "At no period in licr history was there a greater breadth of land imder sugar cultivation than at the present moment." || The education returns are " on the Avhole ex- * Report, ISnT. President Rumliold, improvement: cultivation appears to who Hucccodod rrcsidctit Seymour, be carefully attended to Thero disapproved uf the diango, on account is ample room to hope for the gradual of tiio (^catcr diniciilty of raising re- re,;cneratiiin of tlio colony." venue Ijy direct taxation. Ho nays, t Report. 1850. t Ibid. 1858. h>iwcvcr, tliiit "tlicie appears now to § Ibid. 1850. || Ibid. 1853. bu at work an iiidu-.trious spii-it of THE RESULTS OF EMANCIPATION". XIX tremely satisfactory." There seems to tlie Governor to be "an increasing desire on the part of a very respectable* por- tion of the inhabitants to avail themselves of the schools." In 1857, the administrator notes the extension of cane cul- tivation ; t and says that " the aspect of the country is more promising: the prospects of the agriculturist are en- couraging." Sugar exported from 1838-1842, 4,588,475 lbs.; and from 1852-1856, 6,392,093 lbs.; the increase being 1,803,618 lbs. St Vincent. — In 1852 the Governor described the financial management as " inexcusable." In 1856 important reforms were made. The result is, that, in 1857, he says, "it is mat- ter of great satisfaction to me to state that .... the foun- dation has been laid for a great and progressive improvement." He speaks of extended cultivation, and of " a really sound and healthy state of the colony at present, and a cheering and promising prospect for the future." He says the condi- tion of the labourer is almost universally one of comfort ; and describes the rising villages, the growing number of freeholders and leaseholders, and the steady progressive in- crease in the value of imports. X In 1858 he describes the colony as in a " most satisfactory state." " Agricultural operations largely extended ; " his anticipation of its conti- nued progress and prosperity had been fully realised. Imports and exports had increased from £249,526 in 1856, to £406,159 in 1857; an increase of £156,633 in one year. § And he expressly attributes it to "increased cultivation and pro- sperity." He says, "the cheerful prospects of 1856 are being fully realised. The present position of St Vincent is most satisfactory, and its future most promising." In Tobago, again, the accounts were dismal, in 1852 and 1853, which the Governor said was beyond doubt o^ving to the state of its financial affairs. In 1856, however, an im- proved system having been adopted, the result is, that already the Governor "has much satisfaction in taking a more en- couraging view of the prospects of the colony." || A marked improvement is visible in the revenue returns. The labourers are described as well behaved and industrious. IT Tortola under slavery exported 15,559 cwt. of sugar. It now exports none at all. But the change is wholly an advan- tage. The island is singularly suitable for the raising of • In the sense of a very large portion. t Report, 1852. I Ibid. 1857. § Ibid. 1858. |1 Ibid. 1858. . t Ibid. XX INQUIRY INTO stock, and accordingly " all the people, witli few exceptions, are owners of cattle, which, they dispose of to great advan- tage." " It is very gi'atifying to be able to observe that the labour- ing popidation appear fully sensible of the advantages of education to their children, and that the latter manifest a great desire to benefit by the opportunity afforded them." Tnnidad is highly flourishing. The whole trade has in- creased from a yearly average under slavery, of ^810,636, to £1,239,241 in 1856, an increase of £428,605. In 1852 the crop was the largest ever shipped from the island ; and it has been extending since, — " marked improvement in the cultivation of the sugar estates."* Export of sugar rose from an average of 310,797 cvvt. under slavery, to one of 426,042 in the seven years ending 1854. These specific accounts of the several islands are borne out by the statistics and reports that relate to our West Indies en masse. To men of busmess one fact will seem almost enough by itself to shew their sound commercial state, name- ly, that in the year 1857 the Colonial Bank received biUs from the West Indies to the amount of more than £1,300,000, and less than £8000 were returned, t Nor was there a single failure in the West India trade during the severe commercial crisis in the autumn of that year. Furthermore, cofiee, cotton, wool, sugar, rum, cocoa, are all exported in increasing quanti- ties. The total exports from Great Britain to the West Indies in 1 8S7 were valued at half-a-miUion more than the average of the preceding ten years, and actually in that year equalled her exports to Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Greece, Azores, Ma- deira, and Morocco, all combined. J The exports and imports together of the West Indies amounted, in the four years end- ing with 1853, to just £32,500,000 ; and in the four years ending with 1857, to just £37,000,000, an increase of £4,500,000 in four years. In the year 1847, the total trade, to and fro, of those islands was valued at £10,735,000, and (as noted above) the value of the sugar alonu imported from them into the United Kingdom, in that year, was no less than £5,018,000! These official statistics and reports absolutely demonstrate the fact that the West Indies are rapidly advancing in wealth and prosperity; nor must it be sujiposed that they are merely • Report, 1853. f Boo Rcjoort of Colonial Bank, for Juno 30, 1857. } Trude and Navigation Accounts, IHM. THE RESULTS OF EMANCIPATION. XXI *' putting money in their purse," without a corresponding ad- vance in the general character of the people. In this respect the change from the old state of things is described on all hands as being most gratifying ; * and especially in those thou- sands of cases where the negroes have built altogether new villages for themselves. The cottages are either neatly thatched, or shingled with pieces of hard wood. Some are built of stone or wood ; but generally are plastered also on the outside, and whitewashed. Many are ornamented with a portico in front, to screen the sitting apartment from sun and rain ; while for the admission of light and air, as well as to add to their appearance, they exhibit either shutters or jalousies, painted green, or small glass windows. " There is usually a sleeping apartment at each end and a sitting- room in the centre. The floors are in most instances terraced, although boarded ones for sleeping-rooms are becoming common. Many of the latter contain good mahogany bedsteads, a washing-stand, a looking- glass, and chairs. The middle apartment is usually furnished with a sideboard, displaying sundry articles of crockery ware, some decent- looking chairs, and not unfrequently with a few broadsheets of the Tract Society hung round the walls in neat frames of cedar. For cooking food, and other domestic purposes, a little room or two is erected at the back of the cottage, where are also arranged the various conveniences for keeping domestic stock. The villages are laid out in regular order, being divided into lots more or less intersected by roads or streets. The plots are usually in the form of an oblong square. The cottage is situa- ted at an equal distance from each side of the allotment, and at about eight or ten feet from the public thoroughfare. The piece of ground in front is, in some instances, cultivated in the style of a European gar- den, displaying rose-bushes, and other flowering shrubs, among the choicer vegetable productions ; while the remainder is covered with all the substantial vegetables and fruits of the country heterogeneouslj intermixed." The result is, that they present " a very pleasing appear- ance." Sir Henry Barkly was reminded by those in the hills of the villages in Switzerland, and he says they have a de- cided air of progresive civilisation and comfort about them ; and that it is quite clear, whatever may be the case elsewhere, that their inhabitants are not retrograding either in their moral or physical condition. And the same despatch con- tains a report by a stipendiary magistrate, and speaks of "the thousands of well cultivated settlements, with their tastefully arranged cottages and gardens, which have given quite a different appearance to the country since August 1838, and bespeak the prosperity and comfort of the occupants, and * See " Antigua and the Autiguans;" Philippe's "Jamaica," &c. itc; Sir H, Barkly's Journal, in 1S53, (P. P.) Despatch, May, 1854. XXU INQUIRY INTO present a cheering prospect, and an encouraging hope for the future."* Another magistrate reports to him that the ad- vancement in the condition of the labouring class is unmis- takably apparent : — " The peasantry, who were formerly unused to domestic comfort and a state of independence, are now otherwise circumstanced. A very large number of them are owners of freehold properties, on which they are comfortably located. They also own a large number of horses, hogs, and other live stock. They trade extensively in the native products of the parish, which they cultivate in such abundance, that boats are con- stantly conveying cargoes of yams, cocoas, and plantains to the port of Falmouth in the parish of Trelawney, where they are scarce, and in great demand. The vessels employed in this traffic are almost exclu- sively their own property. The degrading practice of concubinage has been forsaken by a large number, who have embraced the marriage state, and the weekly publication of intended matrimonial alliances is proof that matrimony among them is on the increase. They contribute more largely than any other class to the general taxation of the parish, and not a few enjoy and exercise electoral rights. Generally they may be said to be a fair specimen of the labouring people of this island ; will- ing and tractable, civil and obedient, confiding in those who employ them, often toiling on estates for weeks and months in expectation of reward, but in many instances ill-requited for their confidence and la- bour by disappointment and non-payment." The number of such settlements established since emanci- pation is almost incredible. Within eight years of that event, nearly two hundred villages of the kind we have been de- scribing, had been built, and full 100,000 acres of land purchased, by the negroes of Jamaica alone. A statement was read in the House of Commons, in 1842, by Lord Stanley (then Colonial Minister,) that " it would appear wonderful how so much had been accomplished in the island, in build- ing, planting, digging, and making fences. The number of freeholders who have become freeholders hy their accumulation and industry in the island of Jamaica amounted, in 1840, tc 7,340." It is usual to fancy that the free negroes desert the estates to squat upon wild lands ; but although this has occasionally been the case, by far the greater number of them have bought land, and that at a good price, for their settlements. And the negro proprietor is just as proud of his own home and freehold as any Englishman might be. The names they give them may be taken as a slight indication of their feelings : "Content my own," "Comfort Castle," "Happy Hut," "Thank God to sec it," and so forth. One is mentioned by the ivcv. Mr i'liilippo, as being entitled "Occasion call," • Sir II. Darkly, ISO I. Appendix. THE RESULTS OP EMANCIPATION. XXUl which the owner explained thus : " If any person have busi- ness wid me, him can come in ; but if him don't want me in pottickler, me no wants him company, and him no 'casion to come." In appearance, very many of the negroes have by no means a disagreeable exterior. In fact the clever authoress of "Antigua and the Antiguans" declares that many of the Creole* negroes may be termed very good-looking. High and well-formed foreheads, black and sparkling eyes, aquiline noses, and lips with only a slight pout, are not uncommon, though others of the same race are more like apes than human beings. Both men and women, she tells us, are seldom to be seen except in the most becoming attire ; the dress of the women generally consisting of a printed or cotton gown, with a white handkerchief tied round their heads like a tmrban, and a neat straw hat trimmed with white ribband. But on high days and festivals, it must be owned that the splendour of the negro array is not in the purest taste. One of the writers on the West Indies was shocked by seeing a negress who actually was adorned with pink stockings, yellow shoes, and a bonnet of green trimmed with pink, and displaying a blue rose with silver leaves ! Silks, satins, muslins, and crapes are plentifully used, and even the " gentlemen " will come out on occasion in a traly glorious costume ; with vel- vet collars, radiant waistcoats, and boots expressly made to " stamp and creak " well. They all carry umbrellas, silk if possible ; and pocket-handkerchiefs, with one end making its appearance from the coat pocket. We are told, however, that the love for gaudy colours is disappearing ; and that modesty and sensibility are becoming increasingly apparent in the female sex. In their names, the march of intellect has extinguished the Sambos, Pompeys, and Darkeys of former days, and now the shining pickaninnies rejoice in the appella- tions of " Adeline Floretta," " Rosalind Monemia," "Alonzo Frederick," and so forth. One cannot but smile at these little affectations ; but all this shews a progress towards refine- ment and civilisation, though some of its offshoots are laugh- able. The same may be said of their manners, in which a surprising improvement has taken place. " The uncouth ad- dress and sullen aspect and carriage of the slaves " have been replaced by a great deal of graceful kindliness and ease towards strangers, and a politeness and respect to each other * ». e., Native : not imported from Africa. XXIV INQUIRY INTO whicli may often approach extravagance, but is mucli better than the rough, address so common in many parts of Eng- land among the working classes. No negro peasant meets another without exchanging salutations and inquiries. Age is particiJarly venerated, and the noisy little negroes at their sport will stop while one of their old people are passing, with, " How dy'e ma'm,'' and " How dy'e me picnee," is the courteous reply. Every one praises their generosity and kindness. To the miserable pauper whites, who abound in some of the West Indies (and whose squalor and feebleness shew the wisdom of Carlyle's expectation that the West Indies will some day be saved by a population of "true splinters of the old Harz rock, heroic white men, worthy to be called old Saxons ") they are often known to act the part of guardian angels. They will work for them, feed them, clothe them, without the slightest wish or prospect of re- ceiving remuneration. They are rising, too, with rapidity in the social scale, and would seem to be fit for any kind of employment. Mr Baird mentions that in the legislatures of many of the islands there are already sundry negro members, as well as many gentlemen of colour. When Mr Bigelow visited Jamaica, there were ten or a dozen coloured men in the Legislative Assembly, which consists altogether of about fifty members; and the police force, the oflS.cers of the penitentiary, the offi- cers of the courts of justice, as well as some of the barristers, Avere coloured men ; and we believe they have since been freely admitted to the magistracy and to political office. The old prejudices against African blood is disappearing, though under slavery it was intensely strong ; so much so, that the coloured people were generally not allowed to be buried in the same churchyard with the whites. Nay, at St John's, in Antigua, the church bell was not allowed to be profaned by tolling for the demise of these degraded people, and a smaller one was actually provided for that purpose ! Year by year, too, education is making way ; and though in some districts it is complained that the negroes do not shew eagerness to obtain schooling for their children, from others very satisfactoiy reports are sent ; and the governors, almost without exception, state that crime is diminishing in the islands. In fact, crime of an atrocious character is very rare indeed. 'J'lie negroes arc guilty of a great deal of petty pilfering, and they are also regardless of truth ; but, happily, THE RESULTS OP EMANCIPATION. XXV drunkenness is not one of their prevailing faults; nor are they given to deeds of violence, or of deliberate villany. They are a merry, light-hearted, and kindly people ; some- what shallow and thoughtless, and with the faults that come of that character ; but docile, orderly, and peaceable. We must now conclude. The two main conclusions which are enforced upon us by our investigation are these. The one, that slavery and monopoly were bearing the West Indies to ruin. The other, that under free labour and free trade they are rising to wealth. Under slavery and monopoly, the labouring class was miserable and was perishing miserably. Under slavery and monopoly, the owners of the soil were re- duced to the greatest pitch of distress. The state of affairs which had arisen under this old dispensation had rendered a crash some day inevitable. But when once that blow had fallen, and the old things had passed away, and the new things had come, then the inherent virtue of the principle of freedom became manifest ; and it is now working out the most beneficent, the most astonishing — what a few years ago would have seemed the most incredible results. Wisdom has been justified of her children. Seeking only to do the thing that was right and noble, — seeking not to please herself, but to do justice, — England set free her slaves. It is plain that but for that measure, her colonies would have sunk to irretrievable destruction. It proves now that by that measure she has set them on the way to happiness and pro- sperity ; that not only are the former slaves enjoying a degree of comfort and independence almost unparalleled, but that our own trade with these islands is becoming of higher and higher value. They are yearly enriching us more and more with the wealth of their fertile soil. Instead of being the plague of statesmen, the disgrace of England, they are be- coming invaluable possessions to the British Crown. Never did any deed of any nation shew more signally that to do right is the truest prudence, than the great deed of emancipation. " Not once or twice, in our rough island story, The path of duty was the way to glory." And in her dealings with the negro race, both in the West Indies and in Africa, England having " only thirsted for the right," has already begun to find the wisdom of that course. The fight for freedom has been fought amid great discourage- ments ; for a time there were heart-breaking drawbacks to the success attained. But it has been fought with a good XXvi INQXriRY INTO THE KESTJLTS OF EMANCIPATIOTT. courage. And now tlie spread of commerce and civilisation in West Africa; the happiness of the West Indian peasantry; the improving agriculture, the extending trade of these islands ; the cheering news which governor after governor is sending home of their thriving state, — such is the reward, to herself, as well as to them, which England is reaping, from a generous, self-denying. Christian policy. LIFE or SIR THOMAS FOWELL BUXTON, BART. CHAPTER I. 1786-1802. The family from wHch. Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton was descended, resided, about the middle of the sixteenth cen- tury, at Sudbury, in Suffolk, and subsequently at Cogges- hall, in Essex. At the latter place, William Buxton, his lineal ancestor, died in 1624. Thomas, the son of William Buxton, claimed and received from the Heralds' College, in 1634, the arms borne by the family of the same name settled before 1478 at Tybenham, in Norfolk, and now re- presented by Sir Robert Jacob Buxton, Bart. Isaac Buxton, a merchant, and the fifth in direct descent from William, married Sarah Fowell, an heiress ; connected with the family of the Fowells, of Fowelscombe, in Devon- shire. From her was derived the name of Fowell, first borne by her eldest son, who married Anna, daughter of Osgood Hanbury, Esq., of Holfield Grange, in Essex. The first Thomas Fowell Buxton lived at Earl's Colne, iu the same county, but was residing at Castle Hedingham when his eldest son, Thomas Fowell, the subject of this memoir, was born, on the 1st of April 1786. Mr Buxton was a man of a gentle and kindly disposition, devoted to field sports, and highly popular in his neighbour- 2 HIS CHILDHOOD. [JEt. 1-16. hood, where he exercised hospitality on a liberal scale. Having been appointed High Sheriff of the county, he availed himself of the authority of Ms office to relieve the miseries of the prisoners under his superintendence, visiting them sedulously, notwithstanding the prevalence of the jail fever. He died at Earl's Colne, in 1792, leaving his widow with three sons and two daughters. The eldest boy, Thomas Powell, was at this time six years old. He was a vigorous chUd, and early shewed a bold and determined character. As an instance of this it may be mentioned, that when quite a child, while walking with his uncle, Mr Hanbury, he was desired to give a mes- sage to a pig-driver who had passed along the road. He set off in pursuit ; and although one of his shoes was soon lost in the mud, he pushed on through lonely and mtricate lanes, tracking the driver by the footmarks of his pigs, for nearly three miles, into the town of Coggeshall ; nor did he stop until he had overtaken the man, and delivered his message. One who knew the boy well in his early days said of him, " He never was a child ; he was a man when in petti- coats." At the age of only four years and a-half, he was sent to a school at Kingston, where he suffered severely from ill-treatment ; and his health giving way (chiefly from the want of sufficient food), he was removed, shortly after his father's death, to the school of Dr Charles Bumey, at Green- wich, where his brothers afterwards jomed him. Here he had none of the hardships to endure, to which he had been subjected at Kingston, and he found in Dr Bumey a kind and judicious master. Upon one occasion, he was accused by an usher of talking during school tune, and desired to learn the collect, epistle, and gospel, as a punishment. When Dr Bumey entered the school, young Buxton ap- pealed to him, stoutly denying the charge. The usher as strongly asserted it ; but Dr Bumey sto])pcd him, saying, " I never found the boy tell a lie, and will not disbelieve liim now." He does not appear to have made much progress in his Ktiulics, and his holidays spent at Earl's Colne, where his mother continued to reside, left a deeper trace in his after- life, than tlic time spent at seliuol. Mrs Buxton's character 1786-1802.] HIS MOTHER'S INFLUENCE. 3 lias been thus briefly described by her son : " My mother was a woman of a very vigorous mind, and possessing many of the generous virtues in a very high degree. She was large-minded about everything ; disinterested almost to an excess ; careless of difiiculty, labour, danger, or expense, in the prosecution of any great object. She had a masculine understanding, great power of mind, great vigour, and was very fearless. With these nobler qualities were united some of the imperfections, which belong to that species of ardent and resolute character." She belonged to the Society of Friends. Her husband being a member of the Church of England, their sons were baptized in infancy ; nor did she ever exert her influence to bring them over to her own per- suasion. She was more anxious to give them a deep regard for the Holy Scriptures, and a lofty moral standard, than to quicken their zeal about the distinctive difi"erences of re- ligious opinion. Her system of education had in it some striking features. There was little indulgence, but much liberty. The boys were free to go where they would, and do what they pleased, and her eldest son especially was allowed to assume almost the position of master in the house. But, on the other hand, her authority, when exer- cised, was paramount over him, as over his brothers and sisters. On being asked by the mother of a large and ill- managed famUy, whether the revolutionary principles of the day were not making way among her boys, her reply was, " I know nothing about revolutionary principles : my rule is that imposed on the people of Boston, — ' implicit obedi- ence, unconditional submission.' " Yet the character of her son Fowell was not without some strong touches of wilful- ness. He has described himself, in more than one of his papers, as having been in his boyhood " of a daring, violent, domineering temper." When this was remarked to his mother, " Never mmd," she would say ; " he is self-willed now — you will see it turn out well in the end." Her aim appears to have been, to give her boys a manly and robust character ; and, both by precept and example, she strove to render them self-denying, and, at the same time, thoughtful for others. Long afterwards, when actively occupied in London, her son wrote to her : — " I constantly feel, especially in action and exertion for others, the effects 4 ABRAHAM PLASTOW. [^t. 1-16. of principles early planted by you in my mind." He par- ticularly alluded to the abhorrence of slavery and the slave trade, with which she had imbued him. His size and strength well fitted him for country amuse- ments ; and he early acquired a strong taste for hunting, shooting, and fishing, under the auspices of the gamekeeper, Abraham Plastow. This gamekeeper was one of those cha- racters occasionally to be met with in the country, uniting straightforward honest simplicity with great shrewdness and humour. He was well fitted to train his three young mas- ters in those habits of fearlessness and hardihood, which their mother wished them to possess. His influence over them is thus described by Mr Buxton, in the following letter : — " My father died when I was very young, and I became at ten years old almost as much the master of the family as I am of this family at the present moment. My mother, a woman of great talents and great energy, perpetually inculcated on my brothers and Bisters that they were to obey me, and I was rather encouraged to play the little tyrant. She treated me as an equal, conversed with me, and led me to form and express my opinions without reserve. This system had obvious and great disadvantages, but it was fol- lowed by some few incidental benefits. Throughout life I have acted and thought for myself ; and to this kind of habitual decision I am indebted for all the success I have met with. " My ' guide, philosopher, and friend,' was Abraham Plastow, the gamekeeper ; a man for whom I have ever felt, and still feel, very great affection. He was a singular character : in the first place, this tutor of mine could neither read nor write, but his memory was stored with various rustic knowledge. He had more of natural good sense, and what is called mother-wit, than almost any person I have met with since : a knack which he had of putting everything into new and singular lights made him, and still makes him, a most entertaining, and even intellectual companion. He was the most imdaunted of men : I remember my youthful admiration of his ex- ploits on horseback. For a time he hunted my uncle's hounds, and his fearlessness was proverbial. But what made him particularly valuable, were his principles of integrity and honour. He never said or did a thing in the absence of my mother of which she would have disapproved. He always held up the highest standard of integrity, and filled our youthful minds with sentiments as pure and as gene- rous as could be found in the writings of Seneca or Cicero. Such waa my first instructor, and, I must add, my best; for I think I Lave j)ro(ited more by the recollection of his remarks and admoni- tion, tliaii by the more learned and elaborate discourses of all my other tutors. Ho was our playfellow and tutor; ho rode with us, fished with us, sliot with us, upon aU occasions." One among many anecdotes remembered of this man, 1786-1802.] BELLFIELD. 5 may be recorded. The young Buxtons had been sent out hunting, and, as usual, under Abraham's care. As they were approaching the scene of sport, Fowell made use of an improper expression, upon which the gamekeeper insisted upon his returning home at once, and carried his point. Occasionally the holidays were passed by the children with their grandmother, either in London or at Bellfield, her country-house, near Weymouth. The formality of her life in town was rather unpalatable to them : even the ex- ceptions to her rules were methodically arranged; her Sunday discipline, for example, was very strict, but on one (and only one) Sunday in the year, she gave the children the treat of a drive in the park. A visit to Bellfield was more attractive, and there young Buxton spent many of the happiest hours of his boyhood. The house, which, at the death of his grandmother, became his own, (though till lately inhabited by his uncle Mr Charles Buxton,) is beauti- fully situated, commanding fine views of Weymouth Bay and the Island of Portland. To this spot he ever continued much attached, and his letters from thence always mention his great enjoyment of its beauties. Weymouth was at this period the favourite resort of George III., and the King and royal family frequently visited Mrs Buxton. Her grandchildren always retained a vivid impression of the cordial kindness of their royal guests. At the age of fifteen, after spending eight years at Dr Burney's, without making any great advances in learning, he persuaded his mother to allow him to reside at home ; and there he remained for many months, devoting the chief part of his time to sporting, and the remainder to desultory reading. It was indeed a critical time for his character ; but the germ of nobler qualities lay below ; a genial in- fluence was alone wanting to develop it ; and through the kindness of Providence, as he used emphatically to acknow- ledge, that influence was at hand. Before this period he had become acquainted with John, the eldest son of Mr John Gurney, of Earlham Hall, near Norwich, with whose family his own was distantly connected, and, in the autumn of 1801, he paid his friend a visit at his father's house. Mr Gurney had for several years been a widower. His 6 MR GURNET, OF EARLHAM. [^t. 1-16. family consisted of eleven children ; three elder daughters, on the eldest of whom the charge of the rest chiefly de- volved, the son whom we have mentioned, a group of four girls nearer Fowell Buxton's age, and three younger boys. He was then in his sixteenth year, and was charmed by the lively and kindly spirit which pervaded the whole party, while he was surprised at finding them all, even the younger portion of the family, zealously occupied in self-education, and full of energy in every pursuit, whether of amusement or of knowledge. They received him as one of themselves, early appreciating his masterly, though still uncultivated niindj while on his side, their cordial and encouraging welcome seemed to draw out all his latent powers. He at once joined with them in reading and study, and from this visit may be dated a remarkable change in the whole tone of his character : he received a stimulus, not merely in the acquisition of knowledge, but in the formation of studious habits and intellectual tastes ; nor could the same influence fail of extending to the refinement of his disposition and manners. Earlham itself possessed singular charms for their young and lively party. They are described at the time of his visit as spending the fine autumn afternoons in sketching and reading under the old trees in the park, or in taking ex- cursions, some on foot, some on horseback, into the country round ; wandering homeward towards evening, with their dra-n-ings and the wild flowers they had found. The roomy old hall, also, was well fitted for the cheerful, though simple hospitalities which Mr Gurney delighted to exercise, espe- cially towards the literary society, for which Norwich was at that time distinguished. A characteristic anecdote of Mr Gurney has been re- corded. He was a strict preserver of his game, and rxcord- ingly had an intense repugnance to everything bordering on poaching. Upon one occasion, when walking in his park, lie heard a shot fired in a neighbouring wood — he hurried to the spot, and his naturally jilacid temper was consider- ably rnflled on seeing a young officer with a pheasant at his feet, delibei'ati'ly reloading his gun. As the young man, however, r('}>licd to his ratlier warm expressions by a polite apology, Mr Gurney's wrath was somewhat allayed; but he 1786-1802.] LETTER FROM EARLHAM. 7 could not refrain from asking the intruder what he would do, if he caught a man trespassing on his premises. "I Avould ask him in to luncheon," was the reply. The serenity of this impudence was not to be resisted. Mr Gurney not only invited him to luncheon, but supplied him with dogs and a gamekeeper, and secured him excellent sport for the remainder of the day. Mr Gurney belonged to the Society of Friends ; but his family was not brought up with any strict regard to its peculiarities. He put little restraint on their domestic amusements; and music and dancing were among their favourite recreations. The third daughter, afterwards the well-known Mrs Fry, had indeed united herself more closely to the Society of Friends ; but her example in this respect had not as yet been followed by any of her brothers or sisters. Such was the family of which Fowell Buxton might be said to have become a member, at this turning point of his life. The following letter was written to his mother during his visit to Earlham : — Earlham, Octoher 1801. " My dear Mother, — I was very much i^leased with all your last, excepthig that part in which you mentiou the (to me at least) hate- ful subject of St Andrews. * " It gives me pain to write, because it will you to read, that my aversion is, ever was, and ever will be invincible; nevertheless, if you command, I will obey. You will exclaim, 'How ungrateful, after all the pleasure he has had.' Pleasure, great pleasure, I cer- tainly have had, but not sufficient to counterbalance the unhappi- ness the pursuance of your plan would occasion me ; but, as I said before, I will obey. " If you think fit, I shall return to Cromer on Wednesday. Northrepps is perfectly delightful. I have dined many times with Mr Pym : a letter he has received from his brother in Ireland says, ' i!^othing but speculation, peculation, and paper, exist in this un- happy country.' I am going to Lord Wodehouse's this morning, and to a ball at Mr Rett's at night." In December 1801 he returned to Earl's Colne; but his mind never lost the impulse which it had received during jiis stay at Earlham. Many years afterwards he thus refers to this early friendship, which he places first in an enume- ration of the blessings of his life : — * His iTiotlier had proposed to send bim to tlic College at St Andrews. C 8 EDUCATION IN IRELAND. [^t. 1-16. " I know no blessing of a temporal nature (and it is not only temporal) for which I ought to render so many thanks as my con- nexion with the Earlham family. It has given a colour to my life. Its influence was most positive and pregnant with good, at that critical period between school and manhood. They were eager for improvement — I caught the infection. I was resolved to please them, and in the College of Dublin, at a distance from all my friends, and all control, their influence, and the desire to please them, kept me hard at my books, and sweetened the toil they gave. The distinctions I gained at College, (little valuable as distinctions, but valuable, because habits of industry, perseverance, and reflec- tion, were necessary to obtain them,) these boyish distinctions were exclusively the result of the animating passion in my mind, to carry back to them the prizes which they prompted and enabled me to win." CHAPTER IL 1802—1807. As there were reasons for expecting that her son would inherit considerable property in Ireland, Mrs Buxton deemed it advisable that he should complete his education at Dub- lin ; and, accordingly, in the winter of 1802 he was placed in the family of Mr Moore of Donnybrook, who prepared jtupils for the University. It was shortly before the Christmas holidays that he took up his abode at Donny- brook, and he then found himself inferior to every one of his companions iu classical acquirements ; but he spent the vacation in such close study, that on the return of the other pupils, he stood as the first among them. Late in life he thus recalls this period in a letter to one of his sons, then under the roof of a private tutor : — " You are now at that period of life, in which you must make a turn to the right or to the left. You must now give proofs of principle, determination, and strength of mind, — or you must sink into idleness, and acc[uiro the habits and character of a desultory, iiiofloctive young man; and if once you fall to that point, you will lind it no easy matter to rise again. " I am sure that a young man may be very much what he pleases. In my own case it was so. I left school, where I had learnt little or nothing, at about the age of fourteen. I spent the next year at homo, learning to hunt and shoot. Then it was, tliat the prospect of going to College oi)ened upon mc, and such thoughts as I have exjirussed in this letter occurred to my mind. I made my resolu- tions, and I acted up to them : 1 gave up all desultory reading — 1 1802-1807.] EMMETT'S REBELLION". 9 never looked into a novel or a newspaper — I gave up shooting. During the five years I was in Ireland, I had the liberty of going when I pleased to a capital shooting place. I never went but twice. In short, I considered every hour as precious, and I made everything bend to my determination not to be behind any of my companions, — and thus I speedily passed from one species of character to another. I had been a boy fond of pleasure .and idleness, reading only books of unprofitable entertainment — I became speedily a youth of steady habits of application, and irresistible resolution. I soon gained the ground I had lost, and I found those things which were difficult and almost impossible to my idleness, easy enough to my industry ; and much of my happiness and all my prosperity in hfe have resulted from the change I made at your age. It all rests with yourself. If you seriously resolve to be energetic and industrious, depend upon it you will for your whole life have reason to rejoice that you were wise enough to form and to act upon that determination." During his stay at this place, the country was disturbed by the breaking out of the " Kilwarden rebellion," instigated by the unfortunate Eobert Emmett. To meet the danger, volunteer corps were hastily organised, one of which Mr Buxton joined as a lieutenant. The current reports of the day are thus sketched by him in his letters to his mother : — " Everybody abuses the Lord Lieutenant. He received informa- tion from all parts of the kingdom that the rising was to take place on Saturday night, and all the preparation he made was to send 2500 men to take care of his house and family at the Park. The soldiers in Dublin had no ammunition. Colonel Littlehales, Mr Marsden, and every officer of the Castle, were away from their posts ; and for two hours after the rising began, and while the rebels were murdering Lord Kilwarden, Colonel Brown, and aU the soldiers they could catch, nothing was done by government. "After the first alarm, however, had subsided, the soldiers col- lected in small parties, and the rebels were soon put to the rout ; before morning, 10,000 pikes were taken, all the prisons in Dublin were filled with rebels, and from 200 to 300 are supposed to have been killed. Isaac and I watched last night at Dounybrook, with our pistols loaded, for it was expected that they would attack tho outskirts. However, they did not come. A great many Lucan people were found dead in Dublin. Every noted rebel was seen going to Dublin on Saturday evening. The gardener and workmen say there were 500 rebels at Mr North's gate that night. Only two mails came into Dublin on Sunday — one was stopped at Lucan and another at Maynooth." After remaining a year at Donnybrook, he paid another visit to Earlham. " We are most completely happy here," he writes to his mother ; " everything goes on well, and you need not fear that I am losing my time, for being with 10 DUBLIN UNIVERSITY. [JEi. 16-21. the Gurneys makes me ten times more industrious than any- thing else would." In October 1803, lie returned to Dublin, and entered Trinity College as a fellow-commoner. He at once com- menced his studies with great vigour, and in his first examination obtained the second place. This success appears to have surpassed his expectations, and he thus writes to his sister: — Feb. 24, 1804, "I suppose you know how the examinations have ended — very much indeed to my satisfaction, and lam now reading away for the next. !My mother is in ecstasies about my being so near getting the premium." And in a letter to his mother he tells her, he is resolutely bent on getting it next time. He suc- ceeded, and this being his first triumph, he was not a little elated ; and he mentions as " an exceeding addition to the jileasure," that he was the first Englishman, as far as he could ascertain, who had gained a premium at the Dublin University. Before the autumnal examination, he writes to Mr J. J. Gurncy, who was then reading with a private tutor at Oxford : — " College, Dublin, September 9, 1804. " Your suppositioDB about my getting a certificate are, I am afraid, very unlikely to be realised. My antagonists are very tremendous. In the first place, there are North and Montgomery. I hardly know which of them I ought to dread the most ; they are both excellent Bcholars, and men of the most unwearied ajiplication : next Wj^branta and Arthur, both of whom I have had the pleasure of beating already. So far for college business; I only wish you were here to beat everybody." In a postscript to this veiy letter he mentions with boyish glee his having gained the certificate in question. A close friendship soon afterwards sprang up between Mr Buxton and Mr John Henry North, one of the " tremendous antagonists " to whom he refers ; and who afterwards distinguished himself both at the Irish Bar, and in the House of Commons. Whenever Mr Buxton could escape from Dublin, he visited Earlham, and an attachment, which he dated from the first day tliey met, gradually ripened, between him and Hannah, fiilh daughter of Mr Curney; till in March 1805, they were engaged to be married. 1802-3807.] HISTORICAL SOCIETY. 11 But wlaile in tliis direction a bright prospect opened before him, in another, the clouds appeared to be gathering about his path. Other claimants had come forward to contest his right tO the Irish property ; his mother had undertaken an expensive lawsuit regarding it, and her hopes of success were already growing dim. At the same time the family property had been materially diminished, by some unsuccessful speculations in which she had engaged. Her son's letters, however, (addressed for the most part to Earlham,) bear little trace of anxiety : — "April 1805. " The examinations are over, but, alas, I cannot describe the disasters that have befallen me. Think how disagreeable a circum- stance it must be to me to have all my hopes disappointed, to lose the certificate, to have my gold medal stopped, and, what is worse, to know that my Earlham visit, as it was the cause of my idleness, was the cause of my disgrace. Think of all this, and fetch a very, very deep sigh, — and look very grave, and then think how happy I must be to have to tell tou, that my utmost examinationary hopes are realised, — ^that I have the certificate and ' Valde bene in omnibus,' and, what is better, that I can ascribe my success to nothing but my Earlham visit! .... I am sure that, if I had not thought that I was partly working for you, I never should have been able to read so much during this month. The examiner told five of my opponents that he was sorry he had not a premium for each of them. I was not ' cut up ' (as the College phrase is) during the whole examina- tion, and if I have been the trumpeter of my own praise a little too much, you must remember that one slight word of approbation from Earlham would be more grateful to me, than the loudest applause of the whole world besides." " College, Dublin, Septemler 29, 1805, " My mind has lately been very much occupied with the consi- deration of the lawfulness of taking oaths, because my College pur- suits would lose a great deal of their stimulus, if I thought I should not go to the Bar, for the information which I may acquire here would be comparatively of little use to any one but a lawyer. To remove or strengthen my doubts, I have been reading ' Paley's Phi- losophy,' and, indeed, he has almost convinced me that taking oaths is not the kind of swearing that is prohibited. I have endeavoured to free my mind from prejudice on one side, and interest on the other; and I think that if I felt a bias at all, it was against swear- ing, which arose from the fear of being actuated by my wishes, ra- ther than by reason." In October 1805, he and his friend North took their seats together in the " Historical Society." In one of his letters, he speaks of the dread with which he looked forward to 12 HISTORICAL SOCIETY. [JEi. 16-21. " sucli a tremendous thing " as addressing so large an audi- ence. His first speech, however, met vnth. unexpected suc- cess. One of his fellow-collegians still remembers " its producing quite a sensation among tlae undergraduates;" and he himself thus writes to Earlham ; — " November 1805. " I did not answer your letter before, because I wished to state the result of my speech, which is beyond my utmost expectations. Five persons spoke besides myself : ninety -two members gave Re- turns, of which eighty -five were for me. A law exists in the Society, that if any one should get eighty Returns for a speech, he is to re- ceive the ' remarhahle thanks.' There has never been an opportunity of putting this law in force till now." "Wednesday, December 25, 1805. " I made a speech last night iu the Historical Society, and, con- trary to my former determination, I intend to speak once more. I am induced to do this by getting a great many more Returns than I had any reason to expect. " I have, I fear, very little chance of getting the premium ; how- ever, if I do not, I am perfectly satisfied with the result of my studies this term. I have taken very little sleep, amusement, or exercise lately, the consequence of which is, that I have been very unwell." His hopes were more than realised ; not only did he again carry off the preminm, but the silver medal of the Historical Society was awarded him, of which he subsequently gained the other three prizes. At College, indeed, nothing but good fortune attended him. His exertions were uniformly crowned with success ; his mind found scope for its un- ceasing activity ; his circle of friends was choice, yet large ; and a zest was added to all enjoyments, by the bright pro- spect afforded him at Earlham. The gradual overcasting of his hopes of wealth but little affected his spirits. He says in a letter to a friend : — " I am very eorry to hear of your unhappinesses ; I wish I could do anything to alleviate them. I think I might very well spare hap- piness enough for a moderate person, and still have enough left for myself." He some years after referred to his success in College as having " produced this amount of self-confidence." " I was, and have always been, conscious that though others had great talents, niiiio woro moderate; that what I wanted in ability, 1 must iaak(! uj) by perseverance; in short, that I must work hard to win, but \sithal a Bouae that by working hard, I could win. Thia 1802-1807.] ESCAPE FROM SHIPWRECK. 13 conviction that I could do nothing without labour, but that I coulil do anything, or almost anything, which others did, by dint of vigor- ous application ; this, coupled with a resolved mind, a kind of plod- ding, dogged determination, over which difficulties had little influ- ence, and with considerable industry and perseverance ; these have been the talents committed to my trust." From the dissipation then too prevalent in the University he was happily preserved, partly by his close and incessant occupation, partly by his Earlham connexion, and partly by his previous education ; for although his letters up to this period contain no direct mention of religion, yet the Chris- tian principles which his mother had mstilled into his mind retained a certain influence ; while his natural firmness of character enabled him to disregard the taunts to which he was exposed. He found more difficulty in sacrificing to his academical pursuits the strong inclination for field sports, which had been cherished at Earl's Colne, and which accom- panied him through life. In a letter to Earlham, dated May 1806, he says, — " One of the various advantages I have derived from our con- nexion, is the check it has been to my sporting inclinations. I am thoroughly convinced that, had my mind received another bent, had my pursuits been directed towards sporting, its charms would have been irresistible. A life dedicated to amusement must be most un- satisfactory I think you need be under no apprehension in regard to having too much influence over me : as to my being member for Weymouth, it is a totally chimerical idea, for were I ever so willing, it is quite impracticable, so you may lay aside all fears of my becoming a great man." His letters to his mother at this period are chiefly con- fined to matters of business ; one trait in them is, however, too characteristic to be passed over without notice. Nearly all of them conclude with inquiries and directions about his horses, in which he always took so lively an interest, that it almost might be called personal frioidship. "I mean," he tells his mother, " to visit Wejonouth before returning to Ireland, to see how my horses and relations do." He was, however, obliged to hasten his return to DubUn, and on his way thither he had a remarkable escape, the particulars of which he thus describes : — "In the year 1806, I was travelling with the Earlham party in Scotland. I left them to return to the College of Dublin. In con- sequence of Bome conversation about the Parkgate vessels, with my 14 STUDY OF THE BIBLE. [^t. 16-21. present wife, then Hannah Gumey, she extracted from me a promise that I would never go by Parkgate. I was exceedingly impatient to be at Dublin, in order to prepare for my examination : when I reached Chester, the captain of the Parlcgate packet came to me, and invited me to go with him. The wind was fair ; the vessel was to sail in a few hours ; he was sure I should be in Dublin early the next morning, whereas a place in the Holyhead mail was doubtful, and at best I must lose the next day by travelling through Wales. My pi'omise was a bitter mortification to me, but I could not dis- pense with it. I drank tea, and played at cards with a very large party. About eight or nine o'clock they all went away on board the vessel, and of the 119 persons who embarked as passengers, 118 were drowned before midnight." It was during this tour in Scotland tliat liis attention appears to liave been drawn, with increased earnestness, to the subject of religion. When at Perth, he purchased a large Bible, with the resolution, which he steadfastly kept, of perusing a portion of it every day ; and he mentions in a letter, dated September 10, 1806, that a change had been worked in his mind with respect to reading the Holy Scrip- tures. " Formerly," he says, " I read generally rather as a duty than as a pleasure, but now I read them with great interest, and, I may say, happiness. I never before felt so assured that the only means of being happy, is from seek- ing the assistance of a superior Being, or so inclined to en- deavour to submit myself to the direction of principle." The College examination was now again approaching, and he was not so well prepared as usual, having given, as he feared, too much time to Optics, of which science he speaks as " the most delightful and captivating of studies." After the examination was over, he writes to the party at Earl- ham : — " I never had such a contest. The examiner could not decide in the Ifall, so we were obliged to have two hours more this morning; however, I can congratulate you once more I venerate Optica for what they have done for mo in this examination." In the course of this examination, he gave an answer to one of the vivd voce questions, which the examiner thought incorrect, and lie passed on to the next man ; but to the astonishment of the other undergraduates, Buxton rose from his scat and said, " I beg your pardon, sir, but I am con- vinced my answer was correct." The examiner, after some demur, consented to refer to a book of authority on the sub- 1802-1807.] SUCCESS AT COLLEGE. 15 ject, and it proved tliat Buxton's answer was tlie one given in the latest edition of the work. " November 1806. " Every day brings us new accounts of disturbances in the remote parts of the country ; I am almost inclined to fear there will be a rebellion. I have been thinking a great deal lately of what I should do in case the corps were again established in College. There is to me no question so dubious or perplexing, as whether resistance against danger from an enemy is allowable : however, if I can trust my own determination, I shall not be at all swayed by the example of others, or by the disgrace which would attend a refusal to enlist." A day or two later, he continues : — " I was extremely tired at the Historical Society on Wednesday night. I was made President, and you cannot imagine the labour of keeping a hundred unruly and violent men orderly and obedient. The all-engrossing subject here at present is the prospect of a rebellion, if I may say the prospect when I think there is the reality. Every day we hear of fresh murders ; and the Bishop of Elphin, who is of the Law family, declared openly in the Castle-yard, that in the five and twenty years he had resided here, the people in his diocese were never in so desperate a state of rebellion." On his return to England for a short holiday, he says : — "London, Jcmuary 23, 1807. " It is a very great pleasure to me that I can tell you some news, ■which I think will delight you. In the first place, I have arrived here safe and sound. In the second, I have for the twelfth time secured the premium, and Valde bene in omnibus." On the 14th of April in the same year he received his thirteenth premium, and also the highest honour of the University, — the Gold Medal. With these distinctions, and the four silver medals from the Historical Society, he prepared to return to England. At this juncture a circum- stance occurred which might have turned the whole current of his hfe. A proposal was made to him by the electors to come forward as candidate for the representation of the University, and good grounds were given him to expect a triumphant return. No higher token of esteem than this could have been offered to one without wealth or Irish connexion, and without the smallest claim upon the con- sideration of the University, except what his personal and academical character afforded. Such an offer it was not easy to reject, and he was, as he says at the time, " ex- tremely agitated and pleased by it." He weighed the 16 HIS MARRIAGE. [JEt. 16-21. pleasure, the distinction, the influence promised by the political career, thus unexpectedly opened before him ; and he set against these considerations the duties which his approaching marriage would bring upon him. Prudence ]:>revailed, and he declined the proposal. His friend Mr North writes to him : — " I thiiik all hearts would have been in your favour, if you had made your appearance — and still they cannot convince themselves that you intend to go boldly through with your resolution — ' Come then, my guide, my genius, come along ! ' You were mistaken in thinking fortune (in one sense) a necessary qualification; there is an honourable exception for the Universities." Mr Buxton, however, had come to a deliberate decision, and it was not to be shaken. He reached England at the end of April, and in the following month his marriage took place. In one of his papers he thus alludes to the closing cir- cumstances of his academical career : — " On May 13, 1807, I obtained the object of my long attachment ■ — having refused, in consequence of the prospect of this marriage, a most honourable token of the esteem of the University of Dublin. The prospect was indeed flattering to youthful ambition, — to become i member of Parliament, and my constituents men of thought and education and honour and principle, — my companions, my competi- tors, — those who had known me, and observed me for years. " I feel now a pride in recollecting that it was from these men I received this mark of approbation, — from men, with whom I had no family alliance, not even the natural connexion of compatriotism, and without high birth or splendid fortune or numerous connexions to recommend me. I suspended my determination for one day, beset by my friends, who were astonished at the appearance of a doubt, and having closely considered all points, I determined to de- cline the intended honour ; and from that day to this, thanks to God, I have never lamented the determination." CHAPTER III. 1807-1812. The first few months of Mr Buxton's married life were passed at a small cottage close to his grandmother's seat at I3ellfioI(l, and in the neighbourhood of his mother, who had contracted a second marriage with EJnmud Hcnniiig, Esq., 1807-1812.] ENTERS TRUMAN'S BREWERY. 17 of Weymoutli, and had left Essex to reside at the hatter place. His expectations of wealth had been disappointed, and he found that his fortunes must depend upon his own exertions. After deliberate consideration, he relinquished the idea of following the profession of the law, and entered into negotiations in different quarters, with a view to estab- lishing himself in business. For a whUe these were un- successful, and during this time he suffered severely from the pain of present inaction, and the obscurity that rested on the future. In after-life, when referring to this period he said, " I longed for any employment that would produce me a hundred a-year, if I had to work twelve hours a-day for it." Nearly a year passed away before his anxieties were brought to a conclusion. The winter was spent at Earlham, where his first child was born. Soon afterwards, in a letter to his wife from London, he says, " I slept at Brick Lane ; my uncles Sampson and Osgood Hanbury were there, and revived my old feelings of good nephewship, they treated me so kindly. This morning I met Mr Ran- dall and your father. I think that I shall become a Black- well Hall factor." This intention was prevented by an unexpected turn in his fortunes, resulting from his friendly interview with his uncles. Within a few days IMr Sampson Hanbury of Truman's Brewery in Spitalfields, offered him a situation in that establishment, with a prospect of becoming a partner after three years' probation. He joyfully acceded to the proposal, and entered with great ardour upon his new sphere of action. He writes, July 1808, to his mother, "I was up this morning at four, and do not expect to finish my day's work before twelve to-night — my excuse for silence. I have not neglected your business." At the close of the year he succeeded Mr Hanbury in the occupation of a house connected with the brewery, in which he contmued to reside for several years. During these years his correspondence was not extensive. Among the few letters which have been preserved is the following, addressed to his vdfe, who had accompanied one of her brothers to the Isle of Wight. Mr Buxton had arranged to join them there; but on arriving at South- 18 NETLEY ABBEY. [^t. 21-2(3. anipton, lie found that all communication with, the island was interdicted on account of the secret expedition then about to sail from Cowes, as it afterwards proved, to Walcheren. " Southampton, June 15, 1809. " Now that I have finished my coffee, I thiuk I cannot employ my time more profitably or more pleasantly than in sending a few lines to you. I am afraid the embargo has been a great trouble to you. It was so to me when I first arrived, as the idea of spending some time with your party was particularly pleasant; however, either by the aid of ' divine philosophy,' or from finding that the misfortime was irremediable, in a short time I was reconciled to my fate, and began to consider how best to enjoy what was within my reach. As I could not have the living companions that I most wished for, I went to a bookseller's shop to endeavour to find some agreeable dead ones, and having made choice of ' Tristram Shandy ' and a ' Patriot King,' I proceeded in their honourable company to the water side, took a boat, and went off to Netley Abbey. I thoroughly enjoyed this excursion. First I went all over the interior, and then walked leisurely round it at some distance, stopping and reading at every scene that I particularly liked. Then I went vip into the wood, to a spot which seems to have been formed for a dining-room. While the boatman was at dinner, I went over into the next field to a higher ground. I hope this did not escape you. The four ivy-covered broken towers just below, a party dining on the grass plat, the intermediate distance of trees, and the sea behind, made it, I think, the finest view I ever saw. I only hope you have sketched it; and, next to it, I should wish for a di-awing of the nearest window from the inside — I mean the one that is tolerably perfect, with a great deal of ivy over the middle pillar. I had a ])leasant row home, and have since been thinking about your party with the greatest pleasure ; and, amongst other thoughts connected with you, it has forcibly struck me how beneficial it is sometimes to be amongst strangers, it gives such a taste and a relish for the Bociety of those one loves." TO MRS HENNINQ. " DecemhtvZ, 1809. " My dkar Mother, — I am very much obliged to you for your letter, which furnished me with several useful hints, though not upon the particular subject on which I wanted information. " As to the general propriety and duty of introducing Christianity into India, there cannot be, I imagine, a question ; but is this the proper season ? is not our empire in India too unstable to authorise such an experiment ? In short, I wished to determine its political propriety, to examine it with the eye of a statesman, not of a Chris- tian, and to inquire, not what Fcnelon, but what Machiavcl would have said of it. The result wliich I have come to is, that it would be hir/Jily f.rprdievt, and perhaps the only measure which could reiu- Btate our declining power in the East. 1807-1812.] THE ACADEMICS. 19 " Your letter shews powers of which I may make eminent use, but observe, I must qualify this praise by saying that it wanted method throughout the whole, and greater pains bestowed upon the parts. " The Poor Laws is the next question I shall consider, and I expect great assistance from you. The only restrictions that I would suggest are a parsimoniousness of Scripture quotations, and a care against negligence in the dress of the parts, for, after all, appearance and style are more than matter : a diamond is but a dirty pebble till it is polished. Virgil and his translator Trap only differed as to dress. The images, the incidents, the characters are the same in both, yet the one is the best poem in the Latin language, and the other perhaps the worst in the English." Although, during his term of probation at the Brewery he was closely occupied in maldng himself master of his new vocation, he yet found time for the study of English literature, and especially of political economy. " My maxims are," he writes, " never to begin a book without finishing it ; never to consider it finished till I know it ; and to study with a whole mind." He admitted, in after- life, that even at this early period he had indulged a distant idea of entering Parliament ; and, in consequence of this, he continued to i^ractise the art of pubUc speaking in a debating club of which he was a member. "I must tell you," he writes to Mr North, December 1810, " of a signal reformation which has taken place. I have become again a hard reader, and of sterling books. In spite of your marriage cause, I hold myself your equal in Blackstone and in Montesquieu, and your superior in Bacon, parts of whom I have read with Mallettian avidity. I have not been much at ' The Academics,' but it goes on famously; your memory is held in the highest estimation — even our oracle Twiss speaks well of you. Grant and Bowdler are, I fear, gone from us." His former schoolfellow, Mr Horace Twiss, thus describes meeting him at this time : — " We had been at school together at the celebrated Dr Burney's, of Greenwich, and were very mtimate. " Buxton was then, as in after-life, extraordinarily tall, and was called by his playfellows ' Elephant Buxton.' He was at that time, as afterwards, like the animal he was called from, of a kind and gentle nature ; but he did not then exhibit any symptoms of the elephantine talent he afterwards evinced. " I myself very often did his Latin lessons for him ; and, as he was somewhat older and much bigger than I was, I found him, in many respects, a valuable ally. When I wag about twenty, I be- came a member of ' The Academics,' a society in London (like the 20 WILLIAM ALLEN. [JEt. 21-26, ' Historical ' in Duljlin, and the ' Speculative ' in Edinburgh), where the topics of the day were debated. There I heard, on my first or second evening of attendance, a speech of great ability, from a man of great stature; and I should have been assured it was my old schoolfellow I saw before me, but that I could not suppose it possible BO dull a boy could have become so clever a man. He it was, how- ever ; and I renewed my friendly intercourse with him, both at the society and in private. " Our chums were poor North, afterwards distinguished in Parlia- ment and at the Irish Bar, who died at between forty and fifty ; and Henry, the younger son of the great Grattan. AVe afterwards sat altogether in the House of Commons, with some others of our fellow- Academics, the two Grants and Spring Rice. Homer had been an Academic, but he was before our time. Of late years, Buxton was chiefly resident in Norfolk, but our mutual good-will continued to the last." From childliood, the duty of active benevolence liad been impressed on him by his mother, who used to set before him the idea of taking up some great cause by which he might promote the happiness of man. On beginning to live in London he at once sought opportunities of useful- ness, and in this pursuit he received great assistance from an acquaintance, which ripened into friendship, with the Quaker philosopher and philanthropist, William Allen. This good man had long been engaged upon objects of enlightened benevolence, and by him Mr Buxton was from time to time initiated into some of those questions, to wliich his after-life was devoted. One of the most important of these had already dawned upon him. He writes to Mrs Buxton, December 1808 : — " I have one reason for wishing to remain in town, which is, that I am going to become a member of a small society, now instituting, for the purpose of calling the public mind to the bad effects and inefficiency of capital punishments." And at a subsequent period, he says — "From the time of my connexion with the Brewery in 1808 to 1816, I took a part in all the charitable objects of that distressed district, more especially those connected with education, the Bible Society, and the deep sufferings of the weavers." , All these labours he shared with his brother-in-law, Mr Samuel Iloarc, of IIami).stead, between whom and himself there existed tlicn, and througli life, a friendship and fellowship, far beyond what usually results from such a connexion. Nor was his friendship with his sister-in-law, 1807-1812.] CORRESPONDENCE. 21 Mrs Fry, less valuable to him. He felt (what indeed was felt by every human being who saw much of her) the most profound love and reverence for her exalted character. It was partly from his pleasure in hearing her preach that he was, throughout life, a very frequent visitant at Quaker meetings. But also, there never was any one who relished more keenly what Shakspeare calls, " The sessions of sweet silent thought," whether in the stUlness of a Friend's meeting-house, or in the fields. To wander and meditate in the deep solitude of a pine wood, was, perhaps, the thing in the world that he most thoroughly enjoyed. TO MRS BUXTON. " September 23, 1810. " I have passed a very quiet and industrious week, up early, breakfast at eight o'clock, dinner near six, and the evenings to my- self, which have been well employed over my favourite Blackstone. I read him till near ten last night, and then Jeremy Taylor till past eleven, and could hardly give him up, he was so very entertaining a companion This morning I went to Gracechurch Street meeting, I was rather late, which made me feel hurried, and pre- vented my having sufficient time to myself before meeting ; how- ever, I had made a little use of my friend Jeremy at breakfast, and this and last night's readings gave me occupation for my thoughts. I saw William Allen, who wants me to call upon him to-morrow, as he says he has foimd a place for the boys' school as suitable as if we were to buUd one. This, I know, will please you, but will alarm you also, lest we should forget the girls." It has been mentioned that Mr Buxton was the eldest of three sons. Edward North, the third brother, a wayward lad, had been sent to sea as a midshipman in an East India- man, commanded by his relative Captain Dumbleton ; but in his first voyage he left his ship and entered the King's service. From that time his family had received no tidings of him, and by degrees they became impressed with the painful conviction that he had died at sea. The suspense of five years was at last brought to an end, by the arrival of a letter to Mr Buxton from one of his brother's ship- mates, announcing that he had arrived in a dying state at Gosport, and was earnestly desirous to see some of his relations. He had been attacked by dysentery while on board ship at Bombay ; and, feeling that his days were numbered, he became intensely anxious to reach home once more. He hastened to England in the first ship by which 22 DEATH OF EDWARD BUXTON. [^t. 21-26. lie could obtain a passage ; and on his arrival at Gosport, was carried to Haslar Hospital, whence he despatched a letter to his mother. This letter was unfortunately delayed, in consequence of its having been directed to the house at Earl's Colne, which had been parted with some years before, and the unhappy youth — he was only nineteen — in the morbid state of his feelings, became so strongly impressed by a sense of his neglect in never having communicated with his friends, that he felt persuaded they would now refuse to acknowledge him. A second letter, in which he besought that some one of the family would consent to visit him on his deathbed, reached Mr Buxton, and in two hours he and his brother Charles were on the road to Gos- port, which they reached on the following morning. With mingled emotions of hope and fear they set out for the Hospital. Having been directed to a large ward full of the sick and dying, they walked through the room without being able to discover the object of their search ; till at length they were struck by the earnestness with which an emaciated youth upon one of the sickbeds was gazing at them. On their approaching his bedside, although he could scarcely articulate a word, his face was lit up with an expression of delight that sufficiently shewed that he recognised them : but it was not for some moments that they could trace in his haggard features the lineaments of their long-lost brother. A few days afterwards Mr Buxton writes : — ■ "GosroRT, Aurjust 10, 1811. " It is pleasant to be with Edward, he seems so hajipy in the idea of having his friends about him. This morning 1 thought him strong enough to hear part of a chapter in St Luke on prayer, and the 20th Psahn. Charles then went away, and I mentioned to him how apphcable some of the passages were to his state ; he said, he felt them so, and that he had been very unfortunate in having been on board ship where religion is so neglected ; that he had procured a Bible, and one of his friends had sometimes read to him, but not HO often as ho wished. That ho had hoped and prayed that he might reach England, more that he might confess his sins to me than for any other reason ; tliat, supposing at length that there was iiext to no chance of this, he had dictated a letter to me upon the Bubject, which is now in his box. When I told him, that as his ilhiesa had brought Iiim into such a frame of mind, it was impossible for mo to regret it, let the event be what it would, he said he con- Bidorcd it as a mercy now, but that nobody could tuU what his 1807-1812.] EXERTIONS IN THE BREWERY, 23 Bufferings had been. I then entered into a kind of short history of what I considered to be inculcated in the Testament, ' that Christ came to call sinners to repentance.' He felt consolation from this; but again said, that he had been indeed a sinner. I then told him that I hoped he did not ever omit to pray for assistance, and I added that Charles and I had joined in prayer for him last night. He seemed so much affected by this, that I did not think it right to press the conversation further. Does not all this furnish a striking jjroof how our sorrows may be converted into joys ? I can look upon his illness in no other light than as a most merciful dispensa- tion. It is most affectingly dehghtful to see his lowliness of mind, and his gratitude to all of us. I cannot help thinking that his mind is more changed than his body." He died a few days afterwards. In 1811 Mr Buxton Avas admitted as a partner in the Brewery ; and during the ensuing seven years he was almost exclusively devoted to his business. Soon after his admission, his senior partners, struck by his energy and force of mind, placed in his hands the difficult and respon- sible task of remodelling their whole system of management. It would be superflu.ous to enter into the details of his pro- ceedings, though, perhaps, he never displayed greater vigour and firmness than in carrying through this undertaking. For two or three years he was occupied from morning till night, in prosecuting, step by step, his plans of reform : a single example may indicate with what spirit he grappled with the difficulties that beset him on all sides. One of the principal clerks was an honest man, and a valuable servant ; but he was wedded to the old system, and viewed with great antipathy the young partner's pro- posed innovations. At length, on one occasion, he went so far as to thwart Mr Buxton's plans. The latter took no notice of this at the time, except desiring him to attend in the counting-house at six o'clock the next morning. Mr Buxton met him there at the appointed hour ; and, without any expostulation, or a single angry word, desired him to produce his books, as he meant for the future to undertake the charge of them himself, in addition to his other duties. Amazed at this unexpected decision, the clerk yielded en- tkely ; he promised complete submission for the future ; he made his wife intercede for him ; and Mr Buxton, who valued his character and services, was induced to restore him to his place. They afterwards became very good D 24 EXERTIONS IN THE BREWERY, [^t. 21-26. friends, and the salutary effect of the changes introduced by Mr Buxton was at length admitted by his leading opponent ; nor, except in one instance, did he ever contend against them again. On that occasion ^Ir Buxton merely sent him a message " that he had better meet him in the countmg-house, at six o'clock the next morning," — and the book-keeper's opposition was heard of no more. We may add, that among other points wanting reform, he found that the men employed were in many instances wholly uneducated. To the remedy of this evil, he took a more direct road than exhortation or advice. He called them together, and simply said to them : " This day six weeks I shall discharge every man who cannot read and write." He provided them a schoolmaster, and means of learning, and on the appointed day held an examination. Such had been the earnestness to learn that not one man was dismissed. He was also very careful to prevent any work from being done in the Brewery on the Sunday, and the strict observ- ance of it which he introduced has been thoroughly main- tained up to the present time. The success which crowned his exertions in business materially paved his way to public life. He was gradually relieved from the necessity of attending, in person, to the details of its management, although he continued through- out his life to take a part in the general superintendence of the concern. CHAPTER IV. 1812—1816. Mr Buxton was, of course, closely bound to his London avocations ; but almost every autumn he spent some weeks at l"]ar]]i;un, enjoying the recreation of shooting, in company with Mr Samuel Hoare. It was during one of these visits, tliat lie first addressed a public meeting. His brother-in- law, Mr Joseph John Curney, in September 1812, insisted lliat for once he should leave his sport, and give his aid in the second meeting of the Norfolk Bible Society. 1S12-1816.] THE REV. JOSIAH PRATT. 25 His speech on that occasion is thus alluded to by Mr J, J. Gurney : — " There are many who can still remember the remarkable effect produced in one of the earliest public meetings of the Norfolk Bible Society, more than thirty years ago, by one of his speeches, dis- tinguished for its acuteness and good sense, as well as for the Chi-is- tian temper in which it was delivered. His commanding person, his benevolent and highly intellectual expression of countenance, his full-toned voice, together with his manly yet playful eloquence, electrified the assembly, and many were those on that day who re- joiced that so noble and just a cause had obtained so strenuous and able an advocate." Some indications have been already given of the increasing power of religious principle in Mr Buxton's mind ; but he had not yet been fully brought under its influence, nor had he acquired clear views as to some of the fundamental truths of Christianity, In 1811, he mentions that during a visit to Lynn, he had met his friends the Eev, Edward Edwards, and the Eev. Robert Hankinson, who recom- mended him to attend the ministry of the Rev. Josiah Pratt, in Wheeler Street Chapel, Spitalfields : and to the preaching of that excellent clergyman he attributed, with the liveliest gratitude, his first real acquaintance \vith the doctrines of Christianity. He himself says — " It was much and of vast moment that I there learned from Mr Pratt." — He wrote to Mr Pratt thirty years afterwards, " "What- ever I have done in my life for Afiica, the seeds of it were sown in my heart, in Wheeler Street Chapel. With him, indeed, there was no sudden change, as in many men of well-kno^\ai piety. Both nature and educa- tion had tended to prepare him for religion. His mind, ever disposed (in Bacon's words) to " prefer things of substance, before things of show " — with a strong love for truth, and susceptible of deep feeling — afforded, perhaps, a fit soil for the reception of those truths, which at length struck deej) root there. On the other hand, he regarded his tendency to become wholly absorbed in the work before him as a great bar to his progress in higher things. Thus he writes to one of his relatives at Earlham : — "Hampstead, 3 f arch 21, 1812. " I bad determined, before I received your last letter, to thank yon, dear C— — , myself, for much pleasure, and I think a little 26 GREAT REGARD TO RELIGION, [^t. 26-30. profit (mucli less than it ought to have been), in observing the pro- gress of your mind. It does indeed give me real joy to see you and others of your family striving in your race with such full purpose of heart ; and the further I feel left behind — the more I feel engaged in other pursuits — so much the more I admire and love the ex- cellence, which I hardly endeavour to reach : and so much the more I perceive the infinite superiority of your objects over mine. " When I contrast your pursuits with my pursuits, and your life with my life, I always feel the comparison a wholesome and a humiliating lesson, and it makes me see the ends for which I labour in their proper light ; and my heart is ready to confess, that ' Thou hast chosen the good part, which shall not be taken from thee.' How is it then, with this contrast constantly staring me in the face whenever I think seriously, that it has no eSect, or next to none, ou my practice ? I see the excellence of the walk you have chosen, and the madness of dedicating myself to anything but to the pre- paration of that journey which I must so shortly take. I know, that if success shall crown all my projects, I shall gain that which ■will never satisfy me, ' that which is not bread.' I know the poverty of our most darling schemes — the meanness of our most delicious prospects — the transitoriness of our most durable possessions — when weighed against that fulness of joy and eternity of bliss which are the reward of those who seek them aright. All this I see with the utmost certainty — that two and two make four is not clearer ; how is it, then, that with these speculative opinions, my practical ones are so entirely difi'erent? I am irritable about trifles, eager after pleasures, and anxious about business : various objects of this kind engross my attention at all times ; they pursue me even to Meeting and to Church, and seem to grudge the few moments which are devoted to higher considerations, and strive to bring back to the temple of the Lord the sellers, and the buyers, and the money- changers. My reason tells me, that these things are utterly indif- ferent ; but my practice says, that they only are worthy of thought and attention. My practice says, ' Thou art increased with goods, and hast need of nothing ; ' but my reason teaches me, ' Thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked.' . ..." I have in this letter divulged the train of thinking which is constantly recurring to my mind If I have said too much in any part of it, I am sure I do not go beyond the truth in saying, that hardly anything comes so near my heart as my lovo for my sweet sisters." In the commencement of the year 1813 he was visited by an iUness which brought him to the brink of the grave, llow momentou.s an era he felt this to have been, we may learn from the following i)apcr, written after his recovery : — "Fchruary 7, 1813. "After 80 severe an illness as that with which I have lately been visited, it may bo advantageous to record the most material circum- Btancea attendant upon it. May my bodily weakness, and the sud- 1812-1816.] DANGEROUS ILLNESS. 27 denness with which, it came, remind me of the uncertainty of life ; and may the great and immediate mercy, bestowed upon me spiri- tually, be a continual memorial, that ' the Lord is full of compassion, and long suffering,' and ' a very present help in trouble ! ' " I was seized with a bilious fever, in January. When I first felt myself unwell, I prayed that I might have a dangerous illness, pro- vided that illness might bring me nearer to my God. I gradually grew worse ; and when the disorder had assumed an appearance very alarming to those about me, I spent nearly an hour in most fervent prayer. I have been, for some years, perplexed with doubts ; I do not know if they did not arise more from the fear of doubting than from any other cause. The object of my prayer was, that this perplexity might be removed; and the next day, when I set about examining my mind, I found that it was entirely removed, and that it was replaced by a degree of certain conviction, totally different from anything I had before experienced. It would be difficult to express the satisfaction and joy which I derived from this alteration. ' Now know I that my Redeemer liveth ' was the sentiment upper- most in my mind, and in the merits of that Redeemer I felt a con- fidence that made me look on the prospect of death with perfect indifference. No one action of my life presented itself with any eort of consolation. I knew that by myself I stood justly con- demned ; but I felt released from the penalties of sin by the blood of our sacrifice. In Ilim was all my trust." After his recovery, he thus writes to Earlham : — " Perhaps you might think that your letters were not sufficiently valued by me if they remained unnoticed; they were both tiiily welcome, especially where they described your feelings at the pro- spect of the termination (I earnestly hope only the earthly termina- tion) of our long and faithful union. My wife tells me that she said in her letter that I mentioned you all in my illness. This was but a languid description of the extent and force of love I felt towards you, and of gratitude to you to whom I owe so great a portion of all that has been pleasant to me in my past life, and perhaj^s much of that which was consolatory to me at that awful but happy period. C calls it a chastisement, but I never felt it as such. I looked upon it when I was at the worst (and have not yet ceased to do so) as a gift, and a blessing, and the choicest of my possessions. When I was too weak to move or speak, my mind and heart were at full work on these meditations, and my only lamentation was that I could not feel sufficiently glad or grateful for the mercy, as un- bounded as unmerited, which I experienced. This mercy was to know the sins of my past life, that the best actions of it were but dust and ashes, and good for nothing ; that, by the righteous doom of the law, I stood convicted and condemned; but that full and sufficient satisfaction had already been made by Him who came to save sinners ; and such was the ease and confidence with which this conviction inspired me, that death was not attended with a terror." Fifteen years afterwards, he thus refers to the impressions 28 THE EFFECT ON HIS MIND. [^t. 26-30. made upon his mind during this iUness. " It was then," he says, " that some clouds in my mind were dispersed ; and from that day to this, whatever reason I may have had to distrust my own salvation, I have never been harassed by a doubt respecting our revealed religion." As his health and strength returned, he engaged with increased earnestness in supporting various benevolent societies, especially the Bible Society ; and his commonplace books during the years 1813-1816 are chiefly filled with memoranda on this sub- ject. He came prominently forward in the controversy be- tween the supporters of the Bible Society and those who -united with Dr Marsh, afterwards Bishop of Peterborough, in opposing it. These occupations filled up the short intervals of leisure afforded by his close attention to business ; and while he continued to reside at the Brewery, few events occurred to vary his life. Some glimpses into the state of his mind are given in the following letters : — " Spitalfields, December 25, 1813. " .... I have often observed the advantage of having some fixed settling time in pecuniary affairs. It gives an opportunity of ascer- taining the balance of losses and gains, and of seeing where we have succeeded and where failed, and what errors or neglects have caused the failure. " Now, I thought, why not balance the mind in the same way — observe our progi-ess, and trace to their source our mistakes and oversights ? And what better time for this than Christmas-day, fol- lowed by Sunday ? And what better employment of those days ? So it was fixed ; and, consequently, I refused invitation after invita- tion — to Upton, Doughty Street, Plashet, Hampstead, Coggeshall, and Clifton. And now for a history of my day. After breakfast, I read, attentively, the 1st of St Peter, with some degree of that spirit with which I always wish to study the Scriptures. To me, at least, the Scrif)tures are nothing without prayer ; and it is sometimes surprising to me what beauties they unfold, how much even of worldly wisdom they contain, and how they are stamped with the clear impression of truth, when read under any portion of this in- fluence ; and without it how unmoving they appear. " I also read Cooper's first ' I'ractical Sermon,' the text — 'What is a man profited, if ho shall gain tiic whole world, and lose his own Boul y ' Tills is a subject which, of all others of the kind, most fre- quently engages my thoughts Well, I went to church : we had one of Mr Pratt's best sermons, and I stayed the Communion. I could not but fool grateful to see so many persons, who at least liad Home serious tlioiights of religion I am not so ignorant of myself aa to tiiink that I have made any suitable advances. No, 1812-1817.] RESIDES AT HAMPSTEAD. 29 Every day's experience is a sufficient antidote against any such flat- tering delusion ; for every day I see, and have reason to condemn, the folly, the insanity which immerses me — the whole of my mind and powers — in so trifling a portion of their interest as this world contains. But yet I feel it an inestimable blessing to have been con- ducted to the precincts and the threshold of truth, and to have some desires, vague and iueifectual as they are, after better things. " In the evening I sat down, in a business-like manner, to my mental account. In casting up the incidental blessings of the year, I found none to compare with my illness : it gave such a life, such a reality and nearness, to my prospects of futurity ; it told me, in language so conclusive and intelligible, that here is not my abiding city. It expounded so powerfully the scriptural doctrine of Atone- ment, by shewing what the award of my fate must be, if it depended upon my own merits, and what that love is which offei'S to avert condemnation by the merits of another : in short, my sickness has been a source of happiness to me in every way." In the summer of the year 1815, he removed from Lon- don to a house at North End, Hampstead, that his children, now four in number, might have the benefit of country air. The following extract is from his commonplace book : — "North End, Sunday, August 6, 1815. " Being too unwell to go to church, I have spent the morning (with occasional wanderings in the fields) in reading and pondering upon the Bible; viz., St James's and St John's epistles. How much sound wisdom and practical piety in the first, how devout and holy a spirit breathes through the second : the one exposing, with a master's hand, the infirmities, the temptations, and the delusions of man ; the other, evidencing the love he teaches, seems of too celestial a spirit to mingle much with hutuan affairs, and perpetually reverts to the source of his consolation and hope : with him, Christ is all in all, the sum and substance of aU his exhortations, the beginning and end of every chapter. " I now sit down to recall some marked events, which have lately happened. First, then, Friday, July 7, was an extraordinary day to me. In the morning, I ascertained that all the hopes we had in- dulged of large profits in business were false. We were sadly disap- pointed, for I went to town in the morning some thousands of pounds richer in my own estimation than I returned at night. This was my first trial ; next, about nine o'clock, a dreadful explosion of gun- powder took place in a house adjacent to the brewery ; eight lives were lost, and great damage done. For a long time it seemed be- j'ond hope to expect to keep the fire from the premises. The morn- ing changed me from afHuence to competence, and the evening was likely to have converted competence into poverty. " To finish all, at night my house was robbed. This, if we had heard it, might have seriously alarmed my wife, in her present delicate state of health. How easily can I bear the transitions of fortune, and see without murmuring, and even with cheei-fulnes* 30 REFLECTIONS. [^t. 26-30. my golden hopes blighted; but 'bitter indeed, and intimately keen,' would any wound be that affected her. I have often repeated these lines of Shakspeare : — ' Steep me in poverty to the very lips. Give to captivity me and my utmost hopes, I still can find in some part, of my soul A drop of patience But there, where I have gamer'd up my heart,' roar. The bugle-horn is at this moment playing, and lunidreds of peisons are collected on the Ivsplanade. JOverybody has blue ribbous. I hope the children at HampHtcad wear them." 1818, 1819.] LETTERS. 43 TO ims BUXTON. , " Hampstead, Decemher 6, 1818. ". . . . I have passed a remarkably comfortable Sunday; after breakfast I sat down to Law's ' Spirit of Prayer.' I wonder why his ■^Titings are not more popular ; there is about them a warmth and a liveliness of persuasion, combined with a force of reason, which makes them very attractive to me. We then went to Wheeler Chapel, where Mr Pratt gave us one of his best sermons. I dare say any other person of the party would have complained of their distractions if they had only been as attentive as I was ; but com- pared with myself in general, I had my mind much fixed on the service, and was much struck with many things in the prayer-book which I have read a thousand times without notice. S. Hoare and I stayed the sacrament, which I entered into more I think than I ever did before. When I returned to my seat, I went through a kind of service of prayer, which I by practice have formed : first, for myself, that I may press forward towards the mark for the prize of the high calling of Christ, and that I may be enabled to count all things but loss in comparison ; next, that I may be led to tisef ul objects, that I may be allowed to do something for the service of mankind ; then, that my motives in this may be cleansed and puri- fied, and that I may act as unto the Lord and not unto men ; next, for protection and health, and the blessings of this life, that is, if they are to conduce to my good, for I am afraid to ask for anything absolutely The point, however, which has been all day most upon my mind, is a desire that I may work for others in Christ ; that is, that His Spirit may actuate me to do what good I can, that I may have the high privilege of being His servant, and that the performance of His will, and not the a^jplause of man, may be the wages I seek. This verse has been very forcibly before my mind : — ' Never turn away thy face from any poor man, and then the Lord will never turn away His face from thee.' " " December 9. " I rode to Upton to breakfast this morning, since which I have been engaged in some important calculations. These, however, have been interrupted by a visit from the manager of the Friar's Mount School. He gives the most satisfactory account of the expenditure of the money I raised for them last year : two new schools have been established, and two, which were about to be given up, are re- vived. He has formed a plan by which six thousand children, now uneducated, will be instructed. The money is all that is wanting, viz., £4500, and I think I shall try. You will suppose I am mad, but this is not the case. Certainly nothing of a charitable nature, in which I have ever been engaged, has given me so much satisfac- tion as these Sunday-schools ; and I feel, I hope, some gi-atitude for the great favour of being allowed to be an instrument of good to some hundreds of children during the past year. I never think of these schools without pleasure. — With dearest love to you and the children, and with a joyful heart at the expectation of meeting you and tl;iem, yours, " T. F. Buxtox." It will be remembered that at tlie commencement of tlio 44 PLANS FOR THE POOR. [SLi. 52, 33. year 1818, lie had determined to carry out several plans for the benefit of the poor in Spitalfields, and for other purposes of a similar character. In a paper written on New- Year's day, 1819, he enters very fully into the details of his exertions on each of the five tasks he had set him- self, not one of which had been neglected. The first of them had been " to write a pamphlet on prison discipline," and after alluding to the unexpected success of his work on that subject, he adds : — " It has excited a spirit of inquiry on the subject, which I trust will do much good. I only hope that what has benefited others has not injured me. I cannot render myself insensible to the applause it has received. In my heart, however, I know that it is no work of mine, but that the Lord has been pleased, in great mercy, to make me one of His instruments in this work. Lord, I entreat Thee, in this and in all things, to purify my motives, and to enable me to act as unto Thee, and not unto man ! Oh, guard my heart from the delusions of vanity ! Make me to know how frail and powerless I am in myself, and to cherish with gi-atitude, but with humility, the inestimable privilege of being in any way Thy servant ! " The paper closes with the following reflections upon the burden of responsibility which he had lately undertaken. It is interesting to see in what spirit he entered that arena, on which he was for twenty years to fight the battle of the oppressed : — " Now that I am a member of Parliament, I feel earnest for the honest, diligent, and conscientious discharge of the duty I have un- dertaken. My prayer is for the guidance of God's Holy Spirit, that, free from views of gain or popularity, — that, careless of all things but fidelity to my trust, I may be enabled to do some good to my country, and something for mankind, especially in their most im- portant concerns. I feel the responsibility of the situation, and its many temptations. On the other hand, I see the vast good which one individual may do. May God preserve me from the snares which may surround me; keep mo from the power of jDersonal motives, from interest or passion, or prejudice or ambition, and so enlarge my heart to feel the sorrows of the wretched, the miserable condition of the guilty and tlic ignorant, that I may ' never turn my face from any poor man; ' and so enlighten my understanding, that I may be a cajjablo and resolute champion for those who want and deserve a friend I " Upon first taking liis scat in Parliament, his attention was exclusively directed to tlie diflcrcnt forms of judicial ]iunishmcnt. In the beginning of 1819, he took part in two or three deliatos upon the subject of convict trauijjwrt- ships, the state of which was proved by Mr Bennett and 1S18, 1819.] CHARACTER OF HIS SPEECHES. 45 otlier members to be horrible in tbe last degree ; still the reformation of prisons was the subject nearest to his heart. On the 1st of March, Lord Castlereagh's motion for a committee to inquire into the state of Prison Discipline was carried ; and on the next evening, a motion for a com- mittee on the Criminal Laws was made by Sir James Mackintosh, and seconded by Mr Buxton, whose speech met with success abundantly sufficient to dispel his fears of uselessness in the House of Commons. TO J. J. GURNET, ESQ. "Brick Lane, March 4, 1819. " Well, the effort is over. Last night came on the grand question. I spoke for nearly an hour. I was low and dispirited, and much tired (bodily) when I rose. I cannot say I pleased myself. I could not, at first, get that freedom of language which is so essential, but I rose with the cheers of the House, and contrived to give much of what was on my mind. Everybody seems to have taken a more favourable opinion of the speech than I did. The facts were irre- sistible; and, for fear of tiring my auditors, I confined myself principally to facts. You will see by the papers that we obtained a victory. As for myself, I hope I did force myself into something like indifference to my own success, provided the cause succeeded." At the close of the debate, many of the most distin- guished members of the House came up and introduced themselves to him; Mr S. Hoare sat under the gallery watching with delight the success of his friend. " I am sure," said he afterwards, "if I had been received in the House as he was, I should not have recovered from the elevating effect of it for twenty years." But the opinion of an impartial observer may be more valuable. Mr W. Smith (M.P. for Norwich) writes to Mr J. J. Gurney : — " You will see the result of last night's debate by the papers. Buxton acquitted himself to universal satisfaction. The House is prepared to receive him with respect and kindness ; and his sterling sense, his good language, and his earnest manner, fully keep up the prepossession in his favour, so that I recollect very few who have made their dehut with so much real advantage, and seem so likely to maintain the station thus early assumed." In accordance with the motions of the 1st and 3d of March, two select committees were appointed, in both of which Mr Buxton was included. The one was to inquire into the feasibility of mitigathig the penal code, of which V writes, March 11^ 1819 :— 46 PRISON BILL. [^T. 32, 33. "1 conjecture that no man on the committee goes so far as I go — namely, to the abolition of the punishment of death, except for murder ; but all go a very great way, and if we merely make forgery, sheep and horse stealing, not capital, it is an annual saving of thirty lives, which is something, and satisfies me in devoting my time to the subject. I am confident that our opinions on prisons and criminal law will ultimately prevail ; in short I am in high spirits on the whole matter." The other committee was appointed to examine the state of jails throughout the kingdom ; and here we may briefly state the final result of the exertions made for the improve- ment of Prison Discipline. The committee published its first report in 1 820, and the government was thereby induced to bring in a bill for consolidating and amending the prison laws then in existence. This bill was referred for revision to a select committee, of which Mr Buxton was a member. " You will be delighted," he writes soon afterwards to a friend, " to hear that the Prison Bill is going on wonderfully well, beyond all expectation. I made a speech the first day, stating the princi- ples on which I thought we ought to proceed, and the committee have subsequently adopted almost all of them ; so that I do believe that this part of the business of my life will be done efiectually." After much patient investigation, a bUl was prepared by the committee, and immediately adopted by the two Houses of Parliament ; and thus the English jails, instead of re- maining " the nurseries and hot-beds of crune, the almost inevitable ruin of all who entered within their walls," have become, generally speaking, places where the improvement, as well as the punishment, of the criminal is attempted. Perfection, of course, is not yet attained ; the new system has been of no avail in those prisons where exertions have not been used to enforce it : but no man can read the descriptions of the state of jails, from twenty-five to thirty years ago, and compare them -with those of the present day, without being astonished at the extent of the cvU and of the reform. TO J. H. NORTH, ESQ. .. AprillO, 1S19. " A report has reached me that you are likely to get a seat in Parliament. Is there a bit of truth in it ? Is there the remotest j)robability of so joyful an event? I'ray do not conceal it from me a moment, for I speak only truth when I say it would materially add to my happiness. I have plenty of acquaintances, but hardly a familiar friund in tlio House, and this is a very needful thing. I much want Homo one witli whom I can freely communicate, and who would lionestly tell mo when I am right and when I am in error; and I need not tell you liow fully my wishes would be eatiflfied, if we were there together. Perhaps you will like to hear 1818, 1819.] PARLIAMENTARY ELOQUENCE. 47 the impression the House makes upon me. I do not wonder that 80 many distinguished men have failed in it. The speaking re- quired is of a very peculiar kind : the House loves good sense and joking, and nothing else ; and the object of its utter aversion is that species of eloquence which may be called Philippian. There are not three men from whom a fine simile or sentiment would be tolerated; all attempts of the kind are punished with general laughter. An easy flow of sterling, forcible, plain sense is indis- pensable ; and this, combined with great powers of sarcasm, gives Brougham his station. Canning is an exception to this rule. His reasoning is seldom above mediocrity ; but then, it is recommended by language so wonderfully happy, by a manner so exquisitely elegant, and by wit so clear, so pungent, and so unpremeditated, that he contrives to begiiile the House of its austerity. Tierney has never exerted himself much in my hearing. Wilberforce has more native eloquence than any of them, but he takes no pains, and allows himself to wander from his subject : he holds a very high rank in the estimation of the House. " And now let me tell you a secret : these great creatures turn out, when viewed closely, to be but men, and men with whom you need not fear competition. I again, therefore, say, ' Come among us,' and I shall be greatly deceived if you do not hold a foremost place. " My line is distinctly drawn. I care but little about party poli- tics. I vote as I like ; sometimes i-iro, and sometimes con. ; but I feel the greatest interest on subjects such as the slave trade, the condition of the poor, prisons, and criminal law : to these I devote myself, and should be quite content never to give another vote upon a party question. I am upon the Jail and Criminal Law committees, and devote three mornings in the week to one, and three to the other; so I am contented, and feel as little inclination, as ability, to engage in poUtical contentions. My body is strong enough, but any stress upon my mind, just now, deranges me instantly. ' Indolent vacuity of thought ' is my only remedy ; but it is not a very con- venient medicine for one who has such a multitude of engagements. How fares the law ? Is Ireland blessed with abundant litigation, or does poverty deny this, the chief of luxuries ? " TO MRS BUXTON. "Weymouth, August 15, 1819. "Here I am continually in the air, and certainly have already found the benefit of it. I rode this morning for two hours on the Wyke sands before breakfast. I have determined not to canvass, but to be constantly walking about : the worst of it is, I do not know above a third of their faces, and the names of about one in a hundred, so I am in momentary danger of grasping the hand, and inquiring with the kindest solicitude after the welfare of the wife and family of a man who never saw Weymouth before in his life. .... Weymouth is a striking place in one respect ; it brings me into contact with some whose course is nothing short of tremendous, and this trying question always recurs : ' You know better things ; by mercy you have been led into other society, and the truth has been discovered to your judgment upon the com))arison of this world and eternity ; then is your coiu-se as much superior to theirs as your 48 THE MANCHESTER RIOTS. [JEt. 32, 33. light is — in short, with all the instruction and knowledge given you, are you seeking heaven with your whole heart ? ' " In November the riot wliich. had taken place at Man- chester, and the severe measures to which the magistrates of that city had resorted, were brought before Parliament. TO J. J. GURNEY, KSQ " November 25, 1819. " I must give you a line to tell you how things have gone on in the House. We have had a wonderful debate ; really it has raised my idea of the capacity and ingenuity of the human mind. All the leaders spoke, and almost aU outdid themselves. But Burdett stands first ; his speech was absolutely the finest, and the clearest, and the fairest display of masterly understanding that ever I heard; and with shame I ought to confess it, he did not utter a sentence to which I could not agree. Canning was second ; if there be any dif- ference between eloquence and sense, this was the difference between him and Burdett. He was exquisitely eloquent, and kept the tide of reason and argument, irony, joke, invective, and declamation flow- ing, without abatement, for nearly three hours. Plunkett was third; he took hold of poor Mackintosh's argument, and griped it to death ; ingenious, subtle, yet clear and bold, and putting with the most logical distinctness to the House the errors of his antagonist. Next came Brougham — and what do you think of a debate in which the fourth man could keep alive the attention of the House from three to five in the morning, after a twelve houi-s' debate. Now, what was the impression made on my mind ? you will ask. First, I voted with ministers, because I cannot bring myself to subject the Man- chester magistrates to a parliamentary inquiiy; but nothing has shaken my convictions that the magistrates, ministers, and all, have di)ne exceedingly wrong. I am clear I voted right ; and, indeed, I never need have any doubts when I vote with ministers, the bias being on the other side. Did the debate inflame my ambition? Why, in one sense, it did. It convinced me that I have the oppor- tunity of being a competitor on the greatest arena that ever existed ; but it also taught me that success in such a theatre is only for tliose who will devote their lives to it. Pei-ha]->s you will admire the pre- sumption which entertains even the possibility of success. I am, I believe, rather absurd; but I hold a doctrine to which I owe, not much, indeed, but all the little success I ever had, — viz., that with ordinary talents and extraordinary perseverance all things are at- tainable. And give me ten years in age, ten times my constitution, and oblivion of the truth which paralyses many an exertion of mine, that 'vanity of vanities, all is vanity,' and csiiouially that fame is so, — I Bay, give mo tiicso things, aiul I should not despair of parlia- mentary reputation ; but to one who cannot bear fatigue of mind, who loves sporting bettor than glory, who will not enli.st under the banners of party, — to such a being fame is absolutely forbidden. I am well content ; I cannot expect the commodity for which I will not pay the price. " Ho far I 8(;ribl)le(l yesterday, and then I went to the levde The rooma were tolerably splendid; but, ujiou the whole, I never 1818, 1819.] ON SELF-DEDICATIOK 49 was less attracted by anything than courtiership, and would not be obliged to attend regularly for all the ribbons of all the colours of the rainbow. At dinner, afterwards, I had a great deal of conversa- tion with the two Grants, Denman, and the Attorney-General, and then I went home with AVilberforce, and spent a most pleasant even- ing. His family prayers were nothing short of delightful. I hope I shall see him a good deal while I am in town. "P.S. — Bootle Wilbraham (who is a Lancaster magistrate) was defending his brethren in the debate, but did it in so low a tone of voice that nobody could hear him ; somebody wliispered about that he was reading the Riot Act." The following letter was addressed to Ms sister, Mrs Forster, whose husband was preparing to go to America, on what the Society of Friends term " a religious visit " to tlie members of their community : — "Eaelham, 1819. "My dear Sistee, — Your letter has been much upon my mind, and has raised a variety of feelings. The first impression was one of much sorrow, that your plans and prospects of home-happiness should be inteiTupted, and for so long a time ; but I must confess, I have been speedily almost reconciled to it ; that is, I have brought it home to my own mind, and have considered, whether it would not really be the greatest of blessings, if by any means my duty would call me to such a sacrifice, and the caU. were not to be disobeyed. After all, it is a noble thing — it is the noblest of all things — to be permitted to be a servant of the Infinite Ruler of the world ; and how low and earthly is that wisdom which could prefer any delights, before the delights of such self -dedication ! We know but few things for certain; but this is one of them — a promise is given to him who leaves father or mother, or wife or children, for Christ's sake. How can I mourn, then, that William should accept the terms of such a promise ? I rejoice that he is counted worthy to suffer for Christ's sake. I have always felt particularly interested with the vision of the man of Macedonia, calling Paul to come over and help them, comparing it with the Epistle to the Philippians. The dis- couragements at first were so great, and yet the Epistle describes such an abundant and happy produce. Who can tell how many may have eternal reason to rejoice at the obedience of the apostle; and who can presume to limit the effect which Providence may please to pro- duce by AVilliam's visit ? We may differ on some points, but not on this — that his call is from above. I am persuaded it has been sought in the right spirit. I believe it is sent in mercy to others — in emi- nent mercy to him and to you ; and I am willing that you should undergo the pains of separation. But, my dear Anna, you must not imagine I am indifferent about this. Let me ask, Have you deter- mined to remain behind ? I do not give an opinion- upon the sub- ject. All I wish to express is, that you must not stay from motives of economy Of course, we shall see you before his departure. I will hear of nothing else. With love to you both, and not with- out thankfulness that there is something of a missionary spirit among you, I am, your affectionate brother, " T. F. BuxTON." 50 HIS ELECTION FOE WEYMOUTH, [^t. 34, 35. CHAPTEK VII. 1820, 1821. At tte commencement of the year 1820, Mr Buxton tlius enumerates the subjects which he hoped to accomplish in the course of the year : — " First, to assist, to the best of my ability, in Parliament, to amend our criminal code ; and, secondly, to amend our prisons. Thirdly, to obtain a return of the number of widows who burn themselves at their husbands' funeral m India, preparatory to a law pro- hibiting such enormities. Fourthly, to establish a fund for supporting the Sunday schools (on the plan of that at Friar's Mount) in Spitalfields." The death of the King, and the consequent prospect of a dissolution of Parliament, occasioned some anxious thoughts. " I have felt some doubt," he says, on the 6th of February, " whether I should stand ; " and he mentions his " eight children," among the reasons against doing so. He adds : — " Lord, guide mj- heart and will aright, and lead me to determine for the best ! Oh that I could from this day offer myself a living sac- rifice to the Lord, doing or abstaining, speaking or being silent, spend- ing or forbearing to spend, simjjly because it was the will of God ! "Oh that I could thus put off the old man and put on the new man ! I think the time that is past should suffice me to have wrought my own will; and for the future, let me try all things by this standard, ' Is it the will of God ? ' gracious God ! this is what I would be ; but what am I ? Is one hundredth part of my time, talents, money, strength, spent for God ? No ! " He determined at length to stand again for Wcpnouth. He was successful, and after announcing his re-election, he proceeds : — " I heartily ho])e I may make some good use of my present privilege, and that some of the oppressed may be less miserable in conscqiicnce." Thus fixr Mr Buxton's career had been one of almost unchequercd prosperity — as a member of Parliament ; as a man of business ; as a husband ; as the father of a large aixl promising family, his heart's desires had been fulfilled. J I is public undertakings Avero becoming daily more impor- tant and engrossing, and his home was a scene of unclouded }ia])[)incs3. Ills valued friend, the Picv. Charles Simeon, thus writes to liim from Cambridire : — 1820, 1821.] DEATH OF HIS ELDEST SON. 51 "January 14,1820. " My dear Friend, — Certainly if I should live to visit j^our house again, I shall do it with with no little joy, for I do not expect to see in this world a brighter image of heaven, than I was there privileged to behold. A sweet savour of love remained upon my spirit for a long time after, and I am not sure that it is quite evaporated yet. But I do not know that I shall not thrash you for supporting the Radicals. I look to you, imder God, to be an instrument of great good in the House of Commons ; and I would not that you should subvert the influence which your habits and talents are so calculated to command I am no politician; but I feel a regard for you, and seem to think that the more I know of you, the more my heart will be knit to you ; so you must bear with this impudent letter, from one who is, with no common affection, yours, " Charles Simeon." But all this happiness was about to be marred by a rapid succession of calamities. Mr Buxton had been hastily sum- moned back from the election, in consequence of the alarm- ing illness of one of his children. His eldest son, a boy of ten years old, had been sent home from school unwell, but no suspicion of danger was at first excited ; his disorder, however, proved to be inflammatory ; and, in the course of a very few days, he sank under it. His father writes in his journal :^ " Thus have we lost our eldest son, the peculiar object of our anxious care ; a boy of great life and animation ; of a most beautiful countenance ; of a most sweet disposition : and, blessed be God, we feel that in the whole event His mercy has been extended to us. We can rejoice and mourn together, — mourn at our loss, and rejoice that, without exposure to the trials and temptations of the world, it has pleased God to take him to Himself. We feel the most certain assurance that he is with God, and we feel persuaded that, if we could but be permitted to see him as he now is, we should never bewail him for another instant." His faith was destined to be more severely tried. The younger children, who were already suffering from the hooping-cough, were seized within a few days with the measles. He writes : — "Aprils. " This week has passed away in great anxiety for the remainder of my flock." "Sunday night, April 16. " How wonderful are the ways of the Lord ; how sweet His mercies ; how terrible Hia judgments ! The week past has been one of the most acute anxiety. Oh ! when one affliction flows in upon us after another, may they bxirst the bonds by which we are tied to earth, may they direct ua heavenward, and may we, having our trea- 52 DEEP AFFLICTIONS. [JEr. 34, 35, sures in heaven, have our hearts there also I have just been out walking, viewing this splendid starry night ; what immeasurable mightiness does the firmament display ! And when we consider that for all these innumerable worlds there is one Ai'biter, one Sove- reign Director, can we say aught else than ' Thy will be done ? ' Cannot He who rules the universe decide what is best for the chil- dren He has lent me ? May I yield to that will ! " The sacrifice was required from liim, for in less than five •weeks after the death of his son, it pleased God also to take the three infant daughters whose illness had excited such deep feeling. On the death of the eldest, a chUd of four years old, he writes : — " ' Though he slay me, yet will I trust in him.' I had much desired her life, but willingly do I resign her into the hands of the Lord, praying Him that He would mercifully make her death the means of turning me more nearly to the Lord. " Thus, in little more than a month," he adds, "have we lost the darlings and delights of our life ; but they are in peace : and, for ourselves, we know that this affliction may redound to our eternal benefit, if we receive it aright How are all our most choice and comely blossoms cut off ; how naked do we appear, how stripped of our treasures ! Oh, my God, my God ! Be Thou our Consoler, and comfort us, not with the joys of this world, but with faith, love, obedience, patience, and resignation."* " TuNBRiDGE Wells, May 14, 1820. " We came here, with the fragments of our family, on Wednesday last, in hopes that the retirement and peace of this place may recruit the strengtii of my beloved wife. May God give her every blessing; and, for myself, my prayer is that this trial may not pass away, but may leave a durable impression." The diary from which this melancholy narrative has been drawn closes at this date ; and, of the summer, which was chiefly spent at Tunbridge Wells, there are few notices, except that before mentioned of the passing of the Prison Discipline Bill, and an allusion, on the 8th of June, to the Queen's proposed trial: — " Last night came on in the House the great events of the Queen, and I think I never spent an evening to so much advantage as this last. The case is this; we are going into an iuquirj' which will lay bare the most disgiaceful scenes in the royal family iin both sides; tlic probable eiiiisetiucnco will bo the iuipeaclunciit of the Queen. The nation will bo divided, and all the lower orders will be on her Bide ; and the certain consequences, disturbances, riots, and blood- shed. " These considerations pressed much on my mind, and I called • "Elicn I Eliou 1" was tho aitnplo epitaph Lo placed upon the tomb of his four chilUrcn. 1820,1821.] PRISCILLA GURNEY. 53 Wilberforce out of the House, and persuaded him to move for a delay of two days, for the purpose of preventiug the necessitj' for such pauiful and disgi-aceful disclosures, which motion I seconded, in a short, warm, decided, and well-applauded speech; and the whole House were so much with us, that the Ministers were obliged to give way. I have been most warmly thanked by both sides. Brougham said, ' You may live fifty years, and do good every day, but you will never do as much as you have done this night.' In short, the effort succeeded beyond expectation, and I am glad that I was able to persuade Wilberforce to take so decisive a step. He wavered a good deal, but when he spoke, he spoke most beautifully, and at considerable length : his fine fancy played upon the subject." In tlie autumn of 1820, Mr Buxton, who was no longer obliged to give much attention to the Brewery, and greatly- needed rest and change, gave up his house at Hampstead, and became a resident, permanently as it proved, in the neighbourhood of Cromer. At first he resided at Cromer Hall, an old seat of the Wmdham family, which no longer exists, having many years ago been pulled down and replaced by a modern edifice. It was situated about a quarter of a mile from the sea, but sheltered from the north winds by closely surrounding hills and woods ; and, with its old buttresses, gables, and porches, clothed with roses and jessamine, and its formal lawn, where the pheasants came down to feed, had a peculiar character of picturesque simplicity. The interior corresponded with its external appearance, and had little of the regularity of modern buildings ; one attic- chamber was walled up, with no entrance save through the window, and, at different times, large pits were discovered under the floor, or in the thickness of the walls, vised, it was supposed, in old times, by the smiigglers of the coast. Upon first settling at Cromer Hall he received under his roof ]\Irs Buxton's youngest sister, Priscilla Gurney, who was then in an advanced stage of consumption, under which she sank in March 1821. This lady was a minister in the Society of Friends, like her sister Mrs Fry, whom she greatly resembled, in uniting uncommon resolution and originality of character, with the most winning gentleness of demeanour. Mr Buxton had the highest opinion of her judgment and piety; and she exercised, as we shall see, a peculiar influence upon his subsequent career. He thus describes her : — 54 PRISCILLA GURNEY. [.Et. 34, 35. " .... I never knew an individual who was less one of the mul- titude than Priscilla Gurney. In her person, her manners, her views, there was nothing which was not the very reverse of commonplace. There was an air of peace about her, which was irresistible in re- ducing all with whom she conversed under her gentle influence. This was the effect on strangers ; and in no degree was it abated by the closest intimacy : something there was, undoubtedly, in the beauty of her countenance, and in the extreme delicacy which con- stituted that beauty ; in a complexion perfectly clear ; in the sim- plicity and absence of all decoration but that of the most refined neatness, which, altogether, conveyed to every one's mind the strong- est conception of purity. And these attractions of person were aided by manners which nicely corresponded No less re- markable were the powers of her mind. I have seldom known a person of such sterling ability ; and it is impossible to mention these mental powers, without adverting to that great, and, in my estima- tion, that astonishing display of them, which was afforded by her miuistry. I have listened to many eminent preachers, and many speakers also, but I deem her as perfect a speaker as I ever heard. The tone of her voice, her beauty, the singular clearness of her con- ception, and, above all, her own strong conviction that she was urging the truth, and truth of the utmost importance — the whole constituted a species of ministry, which no one could hear, and which I am persuaded no one ever did hear, without a deep im- pression." Whilst attending from time to time his duties in London, he thus writes to Mrs Buxton, who had remained at Cromer Hall to nurse her sister : — "London, January 13, 1821. " I wrote a hne yesterday just to mention my safe arrival, and to-day I have hardly time for more, for a flood of business has over- taken me. I have an engagement already for every day this week, and next week I shall have to bring forward a motion in the House, which will require some time and thought ; but it is the weight and multitude of business which makes me happy. At Earlham I read a piece of Palcy's philosophy, which I found admirable. I was quite delighted with the vigour of thought which runs through it, and it gave me a train of thought which lasted almost to Ipswich. .... I have felt very much leaving you all ; but though I should enjoy being with you, I could stay no longer from parliament with an easy mind, so we must bo satisfied. " As for dearest Priscilla, I feel her given to the Lord, and I am sure that He is about her bed, and that He loves her, and, that whatsoever shall happen to her, will bo sent in peculiar tenderness ; and in thcso certain truths I commit her to Him without fear or repining. She is inexpressibly dear to my inmost soul, but I look upon her as a saint already in the hands of the Lord I have tried to pray for lier, but I cannot. My jirayers turn into praises, and my mourning into joy. And, after all, if wo lose her, what is it? Let our thoughts range through etcruity, dropping only tha 1820, 1821.] LETTERS. 55 trifle of the next fifty years, and what can we desire beyond her present state ? We are sure that her God, whom she served in her strength, protects, cherishes, and will guard her from evil in her sickness. If she is destined to dwell in His presence for evermore, will not this satisfy those who love her dearly ? I say again, I am satisfied and joyful in her state, and can with unbounded and satis- fied confidence commit her to the Lord, and shall be almost glad if you tell her I send no message of hope or fear, neither can I hope or fear." "Hampstead, January 27. " I have had my hands brimful of business this last week, but it has not fatigued me as parliamentary business does; there is no stress on the mind, no anxiety, no apprehension that a good cause may suffer by my inattention or incapacity, which is wearisome in Parliament. We had a pleasant dinner j)arty at the Duke of Glou- cester's yesterday. I had spent the morning with Wilberforce, who was quite delightful. I begin to think, that of all men he is the most subjected and controlled, and invariably in the right frame of temper. I say ' begin,' because he is beginning to share the seat in my mind which Joseph has so long occupied I shall finish my examination of the boys when I am at Cromer, so let Miss tremble. TeU her from me, that I look with unmixed satisfaction to her superintendence of their education; and I am sure, if she give them vigour of mind—' a mind not to be changed,' a determi- nation to accomplish their object by dint of resolution, and an un- conquerable fixed will to succeed — she will give them what is worth more than wealth, or rank, or anything else, except one thing, which if they have not, I trust they never will have this energy, because this energy is a great instrument, and, if ill employed, a great in- strument of evil." TO ONE OF niS LITTLE BOYS. "January 28. " I have had a fine gallop this morning on your capital horse Radical. I ride him and Abraham every day, and always as fast as they can go, because I have so much to do that I cannot behave like little Lord Linger. I hope that when you are a man, you will be very industrious and do all the good you can. There are a great many poor people who are very sick, and yet have no money to buy food, or clothes, or physic ; and there are many more so ignorant that they never heard of the Bible, and think they do very right when they roast and eat their enemies ! If you think this is very right, and that it is kind to stick a man on a spit and dress him like a pig, why, don't try to prevent it ! But if you think it very wrong, then be sure you do all you can to stop it. Do you know, one good industrious man may do a great deal ; and, if you wish to be of that sort, you must begin by being diligent now. But there is a much more important thing than even being diligent, that is, being good. I don't much like to bring you a horn, because I am sure you will disturb the hen-pheasants, and so we shall have no young ones." Mr Buxton belonged, it has been said above, to the F 56 THE AFEICAN INSTITUTION". [^t. 34, 35. African Institution, tlie society set on foot by Mr Wilber- force and liis coadjutors, in order to watcli over the law, whicli with so much difficulty had been obtained in 1807, abolishing the trade in slaves between Africa and our colonies. Having in a great measure effected this purpose, and secured the ostensible acquiescence of France, Portugal, and other nations, in the same measure, the institution had at length sunk into a state of comparative inactivity. TO MES BUXTON. " Jamiary 30. " I had been engaged to go down to Coggeshall yesterday, shoot there to-day, and return to-morrow night ; happily, as I think, I got notice of the meeting of the African Institution for to-day, so I put off my shooting excursion. In the course of the meeting an oppor- tunity occurred, which I could not pass over, of declaring my mind, as to the inactivity and ineffectiveness of the society. I told them that it was certain we once had the confidence of the country ; and it was now certain the public knew little and cared little on the sub- ject. I have often spoken plainly and been condemned by others ; a few times I have done so and blamed myself, but in this instance I really felt, and still feel, exceedingly grateful that I did not shrink from the duty. My remonstrance was well received, and a meeting was appointed for Saturday next, at Lord Lansdowne's, of all the members of both Houses interested in the subject, and perhaps it may be a means of great good. I tell aU this long story for my dear Priscilla, who exhorted me not to neglect this, the first and most melancholy of all subjects. I thoroughly enjoj-ed the dear boys' letters, but I can't think that I shall find they know so much as they talk about when I get home. My hands are rather full : Thurs- day, the Brewery; Friday, Cape of Good Hope Slave Trade; Satur- day, Lord Lansdowne's; Monday, Prison Bill; Tuesday, Brougham's Bill on Education ; Wednesday, I make a speech to the children in Spitalfields; Thm-sday, Brewery and Mail Coach; Friday, home!" " February 3. " I was quite astonished at Wilberforce yesterday. I had not seen him since my vehement reprobation of the African Institution. Yesterday he was warm to excess; over and over again he thanked me for the boldness and openness of my i-eniarks, and said they had penetrated deeply into his heart." A few days later he speaks of " working very, very hard." In addition to the questions of Prison Discipline, Cruninal Law, and the Slave Trade, in which he took so much interest, his attention had been drawn, cliielly through the facts laid before him by the llev. Mr Peggs, a Baptist missionary just returned from India, to the subject of the self-immo- lation of Hindoo widows. Having collected a large mass 1821, 1822.] SPEECH ON CRIMINAL LAW. 57 of information, he determined to bring it before Par- liament ; and, in the course of the session, he made two motions on the subject. In his speech on the second occasion he proved that, within the last four years, in the residency of Fort William alone, 2366 widows had been committed to the flames ! — that the French, Dutch, and other powers in India had abolished the custom in their territories, while the stigma of its continuance still rested on the British Government ; and he shewed that, so far from being voluntary, this cruel martyrdom was generally forced upon the unhappy widow, either by superstitious priests or interested relations. Several years, however, elapsed before anything of import- ance was accomplished in this matter, the question being one which fell within the province of the India House, rather than of the House of Commons. The committee which had been appointed in the pre- ceding year to inquire into the w^orking of the Criminal Laws, had now closed its labours, and Sir James Mackin- tosh's bill for the abrogation of the punishment of death, in cases of forgery, arose from its report. A speech of Mr Buxton's upon this bill excited great notice at the time. It was thus summed up at its conclusion ; — "My argument, then, is this. Our system is before us. The price we pay for our system is — the loss of public opinion, and the aid (the best, the cheapest, and the most constitutional) which the law gathers from the concurrence of public opinion ; the necessity of doing that by spies, informers, and blood-money, which were better done without them ; the annual liberation of multitudes of criminals ; the annual perpetration of multitudes of crimes; perjury; and the utter abandonment of the first of your duties, the first of your interests, and the greatest of all charities — the prevention of crime. This is what you pay. And for what ? For a system, which has against it a multitude of divines, moralists, statesmen, lawyers — an unrivalled phalanx of the wise and good ; a system, which has against it the stiU stronger authority of practical men, who di-aw their conclusions from real life ; a system, which has against it the still stronger authority of the Common Law of England ; which, if wrong now, is wrong for the first time ; a system, which has against it the etill stronger authority of experience and experiment, in England, on the one hand — in Tuscany, in America, and elsewhere, on the other ; and, finally, a system, which in its spirit and its temper is against the temper and the spirit of that mild and merciful religion, which ' desireth not the death of a sinner, but rather that he should turn from his wickedness and live ! ' " 58 SLAVERY. [^T. 35, 36. Numerous were the expressions of approbation wliicli this speech called forth. Sir James Mackintosh said in the House, that it was " the most powerful appeal that he had ever had the good fortune to hear within the walls of Parha- ment." And in a subsequent debate Mr (now Lord) Den- man remarked, that "more of wisdom, more of benevolence, more of practical demonstration he had never heard in the course of his parliamentary career, than was contained in the energetic speech of his honourable friend." When, however, the division took place on the question, "That the bill for the mitigation of the punishment of death for forgery do pass," the Ayes were 115, and the Noes 121 ; and the bill was consequently lost ! On the 5th of June 1822, Sir James Mackintosh again brought forward the question, and was again seconded by Mr Buxton. They succeeded in carrj'ing, by a majority of sixteen, the motion, " That the House wiU in the next session consider the means of increasing the efficacy of the criminal law, by abating the rigour of its punishments." In 1823, however, the resolutions proposed by Su- James Mackintosh were rejected, and he and his friends were still struggling against a superior force, when in 1826, Mr Peel, on his accession to office, undertook the momentous task of remodelling the whole penal code, by which, at the period when first Samuel Romilly, and afterwards Sir James Mack- intosh and Mr Buxton brought the subject forward, two hundred and thirty offences were punishable with death. CHAPTER VIII. SLA.VERY. 1821-1823. The evening after Mr Buxton had delivered his speech on criiiiiiial law, he received the following letter from Mr WUbcrforce : — " London, May 24, 1821. " My DEATi Buxton,— It is now more than tlurty-three years since, after having given notice in the House of Cunnnons that I bhould bring forward, for tlie first time, tlie question concerning the Slave Trade, it pleased Ood to visit mo with a severe indisposition, by which, indeed, I was so exhanstcd, that the ablest ])hysician in Lon- don of that day declared that I had not stamina to last above a very 1821-1823.] SUCCEEDS MR WILBERFORCE. 59 few weeks. On this I went to Mr Pitt, and begged of him a pro- mise, which he kindly and readily gave me, to take upon himself the conduct of that great cause. " I thank God I am now free from any indisposition ; but from my time of life, and much more from the state of my constitution, and my inability to bear inclemencies of weather, and irregularities, which close attendance on the House of Commons often requires, I am reminded, but too intelligibly, of my being in such a state that I ought not to look confidently to my being able to carry through any business of importance in the House of Commons. " Now for many, many years I have been longing to bring forward that great subject, the condition of the negro slaves in our Trans- atlantic colonies, and the best means of providing for their moral and social improvement, and ultimately for their advancement to the rank of a free peasantry — a cause this, recommended to me, or rather enforced on me, by every consideration of religion, justice, and humanity. " Under this impression, I have been waiting, with no little solici- tude, for a proper time and suitable circumstances of the country, for introducing this great business ; and, latterly, for some member of Parliament, who, if I were to retire or to be laid by, would be an eligible leader in this holy enterprise. " I have for some time been viewing you in this connexion ; and after what passed last night, I can no longer forbear resorting to you, as I formerly did to Pitt, and earnestly conjuring you to take most seriously into consideration the expediency of your devoting your- self to this Messed service, so far as will be consistent with the due discharge of the obligations you have already contracted, and in part so admirably fulfilled, to war against the abuses of our criminal law, both in its structure and its administration. Let me, then, entreat you to form an alliance with me, that may truly be termed holy, and if I should be unable to commence the war (certainly not to be de- clared this session) ; and still more, if, when commenced, I should (as certainly would, I fear, be the case) be unable to finish it, do I entreat that you would continue to prosecute it. Your assurance to this effect would give me the greatest pleasure — pleasure is a bad term — let me rather say peace and consolation ; for alas, my friend, I feel but too deeply, how little I have been duly assiduous and faithful in employing the talents committed to my stewardship ; and in forming a partnership of this sort with you, I cannot doubt that I should be doing an act highly pleasing to God, and beneficial to my fellow-creatures. Both my head and heart are quite full to over- flowing, but I must conclude. My dear friend, may it please God to bless you, both in your public and private course. If it be His will, may He render you an instrument of extensive usefulness; but above all, may He give you the disposition to say at all times, ' Lord, what wouldest thou have me to do, or to suffer ? ' looking to Him, through Christ, for wisdom and strength. And while active in business and fervent in spirit upon earth, may you have your conversation in heaven, and your affections set on things above. There may we at last meet, together with all we most love, and spend an eternity of 60 "SLAVERY"— "SLAVE TRADE." [iEi. 35-37. holiness and happiness complete, and unassailable. — Ever affection- ately yours, W. Wilberforce." Many causes had been concurring to prepare Mr Buxton for entering upon this " holy enterprise." His attention had, at an early period, been drawn, though slightly, to the questions of Slavery and the Slave Trade. In one of his private memoranda he enumerates, among the causes for thankfulness, "the strong impression on my mother's mind, transfused into mine in very early life, of the iniquity of Slavery and the Slave Trade ; " and he notices a remark which she often made, " while we continue to commit such a sin, how can we ask forgiveness of our sins 1 " He men- tions also, that he used to ridicule his eldest sister for re- fusing to eat slave-grown sugar; "but," he adds, "her doing so made me think. Singular, too, that my first speech on entering college was upon the Slave Trade, and my first speech on entering life was at the Tower Hamlets, on the same subject." We have seen that he had become an active member of the African Institution ; and although that body devoted its attention to the Slave Trade alone, and did not take up the kindred question of Slavery, yet his connexion with it no doubt contributed to turn his mind to the varied suffer- ings of the negro race. The reader need scarcely be reminded, that the importa- tion of fresh negroes from Africa to our colonies had been declared illegal in 1807, after a twenty years' stiaiggle on the part of Mr Wilberforce, Mr Stephen, Mr Clarkson, and their distinguished coadjutors ; and England had no sooner abolished her own trade, than with characteristic energy she strove to obtain, by persuasion or by purchase, a similar measure from the other European powers. Whilst, how- ever, the British Slave Trade had been abolished, British Slavery remained. Though no fresh negroes could now be introduced into our colonies, yet those who had been already imported were still held in bondage. It is singular how often the Slave Trade is confounded with Slavery, oven in quarters where such a blunder would be least ex- pected. Tlicre were various reasons which prevented those who had ellccted the abolition of the Slave Trade from attempt- 1822.] PREVIOUS IMPEESSIONS. 61 ing also the emancipation of tlie Slaves ; * but we see, in Mr Wilberforce's letter, that the latter was a subject which constantly weighed upon his mind, and filled him with painful solicitude. "When Mr Buxton first entered Parliament, his attention was drawn to this question by a letter from his brother-in- law. My William Forster, who, after describing the interest taken by Mr Buxton's friends in his efforts for the improve- ment of prison discipline, expresses their earnest desire that he would " take up another most important and extensive question, the state of Africa, and of the slave population in the West Indies." "The attention and exertions of the wise and good," proceeds Mr Forster, " have been directed, and, through the Divine blessing, not without much suc- cess, towards staying the progress of evil, in the abolition of the Slave Trade ; but now it is certainly time to turn the mind of the British public towards the situation of those in actual slavery." Another circumstance, to which Mr Buxton often referred, had prepared his mind for accepting the proffered advocacy of the anti-slavery cause. He thus mentions it in a letter, dated October 22, 1821 :— " Two or three days before Priscilla Gumey died, she sent for me, as desiring to speak to me about something of importance. The moment she began to speak she was seized with a convulsion of coughing, which continued for a long time, racking her feeble frame. She still seemed determined to jDersevere, but, at length, finding all strength exhausted, she pressed my hand and said, ' The poor, dear slaves ! ' I could not but understand her meaning, for during her illness she had repeatedly urged me to make their cause and condi- tion the first object of my life, feehng nothing so heavy on her heart as their sufferings." It was not, however, till after long and mature delibera- tion, that he accepted the weighty charge involved in Mr Wilberforce's proposal. Indeed, he does not aj^pear to have fidly resolved upon undertaking it till a year and a half after the receipt of Mr Wilberforce's letter; but he sjDent the interval, as far as his other avocations woiild permit him, in a close study of the question in all its bear- ings. In this he was materially assisted by the present of a large collection of books connected with the subject from * lu 1S07, Earl Percy (aftei-wards Duke of Northumberland) proposed the emancipation of the negro children, but without effect. 62 STUDIES THE SUBJECT. [^t. 36. Mr Hoare, one of the earliest members of the African Institution. Many of his other friends encouraged him to enter upon this arduous undertaking, especially Mr Samuel and !Mr Joseph John Gurney ; from whom, as from Mr Samuel Hoare, he received unremitting assistance throughout tl^e contest against slavery. What chiefly led him to hesitate in adopting this ques- tion as his own, was the fear that the discussion of it in England might lead to a servile insurrection in the "West Indies. He deeply felt the weight of this responsibility, and it was the subject of long and anxious thought. " If," said he, " a servile war should break out, and 50,000 perish, how should I like that 1 " But even this extreme supposi- tion he met by the consideration, " If I had two sons, I would rather choose to have one free and one dead, than both living enslaved." In his first anti-slavery speech he enters at length into this difiiculty, and mentions some of the considerations which had removed it from his mind ; shewing how often insurrections had been foretold by the West Indians, and that their predictions had never been fulfilled ; and further, that even were this fear well grounded, the English Government ought not to be terri- fied by it from examining into the evil in question. He appears to have arrived at his final decision in the autumn of 1822; in the course of which Mr Wilbcrforce and Mr ]\Iacaulay visited Cromer Hall, for the purpose of discussing the question with him, and also with Dr Lush- ington and Lord Sufiield. Then was draAvii the first out- line of those plans in which each, from this time, took his respective and important share. Mr Wilberforce writes after leaving Cromer : — " October 5, 1822. " My Dear Buxton, — We brought much away from Cromer Hall, but we left there, as I have just discovered, O'Meara's 'Voice from St Helena.' My dear friend, never I believe, while I remember anything, shall 1 furget the truly friendly reception we experienced under your hospitaVilo roof. I love to muse about you all, and form suitable wishes ior the comfort and good of each member of your happy circle — for a liapjjy circle it is — and surely there is nothing in the world half so delightful as mutual confidence, affection, and sympathy — to feel esteem as well as goodwill towards every hum.an being around you, not only in your own house, but in the social 1823.] DELIBERATIONS. 63 circle that surrounds your dwelling, and to be conscious that every other being is glowing with the same esteem and love towards you. I hope it is not profane to say, that when associated with heavenly aspirations and relations, such a state is a sort of httle heaven upon earth. My dear friend, never shall I direct henceforth to Cromer Hall, without a number of delightful associations. God bless you all — and so I trust He will. It is quite refreshing in such a world as thisj to think what a globule of friendship has been accumulated at Cromer from different little drops sprinkled over the sea-side. Give my kind remembrances to Mrs Buxton, Priscilla, the Hoares, Mrs Upcher, and indeed to all friends ; to Mr and Mrs J. Gumey, and my old friend Mr Hoare ; to the Lushingtons and Lord Suf- field, whom I hope to know better. Meanwhile, I am ever affec- tionately yours, " W. Wilberforce." A short time afterwards, Mr Wilberforce again wrote, to request that he would visit him at Marden Park, to arrange their plan of operations for the ensuing session. Mr Macaulay and Mr Buxton arrived at Marden Park on the 8th of January ; and (in the words of the biographers of Mr Wilberforce), " long and deep were their deliberations, how best to shape those measures which were to change the structure of society throughout the Western World." Anti-slavery operations were now commenced with vigour, and for some tim.e all went on well. Dr Lushington, Lord Suffield, and several others, who had taken a prominent part in the reformation of prison discipline, now threw all their energies into this new undertaking. Early in March, Mr Wilberforce published his well-known "Appeal on Behalf of the Slaves." At about the same time, the Anti- Slavery Society was formed, (Mr Buxton being appointed a vice-president,) and the committee engaged warmly in the task of collecting evidence and spreading information through the country. Public feeling was soon roused into activity, and petitions began to flow in ; the lead was taken by the Society of Friends, and it \va.s determined that the presentation of their appeal by the hands of Mr Wilberforce, should be the opening of the parliamentary campaign. He introduced it by saying that a similar petition which he had had the honour of presenting nearly thirty years before, had been the first effort against the kindred iniquity of the Slave Trade, and that, in presenting this one, " he con- sidered that the first stone was laid of an edifice which would stand at some future period, an ornament to the land." 64 PREPARATORY MEASURES. [^t. 37. Mr Canning asked whether it was his intention to found any motion upon it 1 Mr Wilberforce said, " It was not, but that such was the intention of an esteemed friend of his." Mr Buxton then gave notice that on the 15th of May " he would submit a motion, that the House should take into consideration the state of slavery in the British colo- nies." On that day he wrote to Mrs Upcher : — " In five minutes I start for the House. I hope to begm at five o'clock. I am in good health, in excellent spirits, with a noble cause, and ■without a fear. If I am only given a nimble tongue, we shall do." This was the first debate on the subject of Negro Slavery. Mr Buxton began by mo%'ing a resolution, " That the state of slavery is repugnant to the prhiciples of the British constitution and of the Christian rehgion ; and that it ought to be gradually abolished throughout the British colonies, with as much expedition as may be found con- sistent with a due regard to the weUbeing of the parties concerned." In his opening speech he plainly declared — " The object at which we aim is the extinction of slaver?/ — nothing less than the extinction of slavery — in nothing less than the whole of the British dominions : not, however, the rapid termination of that state ; not the sudden emancipation of the negro ; but such preparatory steps, such measures of ])recaution, as, by slow degrees, and in a course of years — first fitting and qualifying the slaves for the enjoyment of freedom — shall gently conduct us to the anuiJiilation of slavery." When we observe these words, and the propositions em- bodied in Mr Buxton's letter to Earl Bathurst, we cannot help feeling astonished that the Abolitionists should have been so long and so severely blamed, for having rashly set the slaves free before they had fitted them for freedom ; whereas, it Avas the Abolitionists who desii'ed to approach emancipation by a long series of j)rci)aratory measures. It was the i)lanters, as the sequel will prove, who rejected these preparatory measures, because they were meant to pave the way to ultimate emancipation. 1823.] THE PLANTERS' RIGHTS. 65 The plan unfolded in Mr Buxton's speech exactly corre- sponded with that contained in his letter to Mr Wilmot Horton ; but he especially urged the importance of emanci- pating all the children of the slaves ; pointing out how surely, yet silently, the curse of slavery would thus die away. He proved that this had been done in other countries, without that noise and tumult with which his opponents predicted that it would be attended. This change was, in fact, at that very time, silently proceeding in Ceylon, Bencoolen, and St Helena. "'Now one word," he said, "as to the right of the master. There are persons whose notions of justice are so confused and confounded by slavery, as to suppose that the planter has something like an honest title to the person of the slave. We have been so long ac- customed to talk of ' my slave,' and ' your slave,' and what he will fetch, if sold, that we are apt to imagine that he is really yours or mine, and that we have a substantial right to keep or sell him. Then let us just for a moment fathom this right. Here is a certain valuable commodity, and here are two claimants for it — a white man and a black man. Now, what is the commodity in dispute ? The body of the black man. The white man says, ' it is mine,' and the black man, ' it is mine.' Now, the question is, if every man had his own, to whom would the black body belong ? The claim of the black man is just this — Nature gave it him — he holds it by the grant of God. That compound of bone and muscles is his, by the most irreproachable of all titles — a title which admits not, what every other species of title admits, a suspicion of violence, or fraud, or irregularity. Will any man say he came by his body in an illegal manner. Does any man suspect he played the knave and purloined his limbs ? I do not mean to say that the negro is not a thief — but he must be a very subtle thief indeed, if he stole even so much as his own little finger. "At least you will admit this. The negro has a pretty good 2inma facie claim to his own person. If any man thinks he has a better — the onus probandi rests with him. Then we come to the claim of the white man. What is the f oimdation of your right ? It shall be the best that can be possibly conceived. You received him from your father — very good. Your father bought him from a neighbouring planter — very good. That planter bought him of a trader in the Kingston Slave Market, and that trader bought him of a man-merchant in Africa. So far you are quite safe ! How did the man-merchant acquire him ? He stole him, he kidnapped him. The very root of your claim is robbery, violence, inconceivable wickedness. If anything on earth was ever produced by evidence, it was proved by the Slave-Trade Committee, that the method of obtaining slaves in Africa was robbery, man-stealing, and murder. Your pure title rests on these sacred foundations. If your slave came direct from Africa, your right to his person is absolutely nothing. 66 MR CANNING'S AMENDMENTS. [JEt. 37. But your claim to the child born in Jamaica is (if I may use the expression) less still. The new-bom infant has done, can have done, nothing to forfeit his right to freedom. And to talk about rights, justice, equity, and law as connected with slavery, is downright nonsense. If we had no interest in the case, and we were only speaking of the conduct of another nation, we should all use the same language ; and we should speak of slavery as we now speak of slave-trading — that is, we should call it rank, naked, flagrant, undis- guised injustice. " Now, sir, observe the moderation with which we proceed. We say, ' Make no more slaves ; desist from that iniquity ; stop, abstain from an act, in itself as full of guilt, entailing in its consequences as much of misery as any felony you can mention.' We do not say, ' Retrace your steps,' but, ' stop.' We do not say, ' Make reparation for the wrong you have done ; ' but, ' do no more wrong ; go no fur- ther ; complete what you have commenced ; screw from your slaves all that his bones and his muscles will yield you, — only stop there :' and when every slave now living shall have found repose in the grave, then let it be said that the country is satiated with slavery, and has done with it for ever." An animated debate ensued, and Mr Canning moved and carried certain amendments to Mr Buxton's resolution ; the most important of which was the insertion of the words, "with a fair and equitable consideration of the interests of private property." Plausible as this addition seemed, the anti-slavery party feared, and, as we shall see, but too justly, that it would afford the West Indians a handle on future occasions ; but the discussion grew warmest when Mr Canning brought forward his plan, that the proposed ameliorations should be suggested to the Colonial Legisla- tures, but should only be enforced in the island of Trinidad, which, being one of the crown colonies, had no legislature of its own ; with the further condition, however, that any uncx[)ccted resistance to the suggestions should be met by autliority. Tlie following were the resolutions carried by Mr Can- ning, to which we shall have frequent occasion to refer in detailing the proceedings during the subsequent ten years : — 1 at, " That it is expedient to adopt effectual and decisive mea- sures for ameliorating the condition of the slave population in his Majesty's colonies. 2d, " Tliat, tiirough a determined and persevering, but at the name time judicious and temperate enforcement of such measures, this House looks forward to a jirogressive improvement in the char- acter of the slave iiopulation, such as may prepare them for a par- 1823.] MR BUXTON'S REPLY. 67 ticipation in those civil riglits and privileges which are enjoyed by other classes of his Majesty's subjects. 3d, " That this House is anxious for the accomplishment of this purpose, at the earliest period that shall be compatible with the wellbeing of the slaves themselves, with the safety of the colonies, and with a fair and equitable consideration of the interests of private proj^erty." The debate concluded with a reply from Mr Buxton, which is mentioned by Mr WUbcrfbrce as having been " short, and not sweet, indeed, but excellent." We will give one extract from it. It was in answer to the argu- ment that the danger arose not from slavery itself, but from the discussion of slavery in the House : — " What then ? " he exclaimed, " Does the slave require any hint from us that he is a slave, and that slavery is of all conditions the most miserable ? Why, sir, he hears this, he sees it, he feels it, too, in all aroimd him. He sees his harsh, uncompensated labour ; he hears the crack of the whip ; he feels — he writhes under the lash. Does not this betray the secret ? ' This is no flattery ; these are counsellors That feelingly persuade him what he is.' He sees the mother of his children stripped naked before the gang of male negroes and flogged unmercifully ; he sees his children sent to market, to be sold at the best price they will fetch; he sees in himself not a man, but a thing — by West Indian law a chattel, an implement of husbanchy, a machine to produce sugar, a beast of burden ! And will any man tell me that the negro, with all this staring him in the face, flashing in his eyes, when he rises in the morning and when he goes to bed at night, never dreams that there is injustice in such treatment till he sits himself down to the perusal of an English newspaper, and there to his astonishment discovers that there are enthusiasts in England who from the bottom of their hearts deplore and abhor all negro slavery ? There are such enthu- siasts; I am one of them; and while we breathe we will never abandon the cause till that thing — that chattel — is reinstated in all the privileges of man ! " Although the emancipation of children was lost, and even the alleviations of the slaves' condition were not to be com- pulsory, yet this debate was an important step gained ; and Mr Buxton's emphatic words in his opening speech were verified : — " A few minutes ago was commenced that pro- cess which will conclude, though not speedily, in the ex- tinction of slavery throughout the British dominions.'" !Mr Buxton had various communications with i\Ir Can- ning after the debate, and especially one long interview, in company with Mr Wilberforce and Mr William Smith. On 68 CIRCULAR SENT TO COLONIES. [^t. 37- this important occasion, for wliich. lie had carefully pre- pared, he thoroughly ascertained Mr Canning's opinions on all points connected with the treatment, present and pro- spective, of colonial slaves. He then wrote down what had passed, and submitted the statement to Mr Canning. The document strikingly displays the laborious accuracy and the sturdy determination to verify every pomt of his case, which characterised his conduct throughout the entire con- test. Mr Canning returned the paper with many autograph notes upon it, and ]\Ir Buxton therefore exactly knew what were the ministers' intentions at this period. Neither party, however, were as yet aware of the difficulties of the case. In accordance with the resolutions of the House, at the end of May, ckcular letters were addressed by the Govern- ment to the various colonial authorities, recommending them to adopt the following reforms : — 1. To provide the means of religious instruction and Christian education for the slave population. 2. To put an end to markets and to labour on the Sunday ; and, instead of Sunday, to allow the negroes equivalent time on other days for the cultivation of their provision gi-ounds. 3. To protect the slaves by law in the acquisition and possession of property, and in the transmission by bequest or otherwise. 4. To legalise the marriages of slaves, and to protect them in the enjoyment of their connubial rights. 5. To prevent the separation of families by sale or otherwise. 6. To restrain generally the power, and to prevent the abuse, of arbitrary j)unishment at the will of the master. 7. To abolish the degrading corporal punishment of females. 8. To admit the testimony of slaves in courts of justice. 9. To prevent the seizure of slaves detached from the estate or plantation to which they belonged. 10. To remove all the existing obstructions to manumission, and to gi-ant to the slave the power of redeeming himself and his wife and children at a fair price. 11. To abolish the use of the driving-whip in the field, either as an emblem of authority, or as a stimulus to labour. 12. To establish savings' banks for the use of the slaves. Surely there was good ground for anticipathig that the Colonial Assemblies would gladly listen to these temperate and salutary suggestions. Sir James Mackintosh had not hitherto taken any part in this question ; and Mr Euxton, being extremely anxious to engage his brilliant abilities and benevolent heart in its favour, addressed the following letter to him : — 1823-1826.] LETTER TO SIR J. MACKINTOSH. 69 "Cromer Hall, Nmemher 30, 1823. "My Dear Sir James, — Youi- letter reached me just as I was leaving town. I much regret that I was thus prevented from talk- ing with you on criminal law and colonial reform. The latter of these very much occupies my mind. I feel that a question of greater magnitude, aflfecting the happiness of a larger number of persons, has seldom been agitated; and I also feel that the crisis has arrived, in which we must either begin to ameliorate the condition of the slaves, and indeed to strike a blow at slavery, or in which slavery will be more firmly established than ever. I am, however, I must confess, alarmed, not at the reproach which is heaped on me, nor at the danger said to be produced in the West Indies by my moti(m. I disregard the former, and utterly disbelieve the latter ; but I am alarmed at the prodigious strength of the West Indian party, and at the inability of the person to whom the cause of seven hundred thousand human beings is committed. How often have I wished, that that good cause were blessed with the full, hearty, unreserved, co-operation of yourself If I have to fight the battle without such aid, the cause of justice and humanity will undoubtedly suSer from the feebleness of its advocate. With that aid, and with that of Brougham, of whom we are sure, I doubt not that the sons of the present slaves will be raised to a state of villanage, and their graqd- sons will be freemen Now I have written this, I am ready to tear it to pieces, and to wonder at my own presumption in having written it. It shall, however, go. It is an entreaty for more than half a million of human beings, who cannot supplicate for themselves, and against whom there are many who can canvass and are canvass- ing stoutly." CHAPTER IX. SLAVERY. 1823-1826. The news of Mr Buxton's attack on what the planters con- sidered to be their just rights, and of the acquiescence of the Government in his principles, were received in the West Indies with the most vehement indignation. For some weeks after the arrival of the despatches, not the slightest restraint seems to have been put on the violence of their rage, which drove them to the wildest designs. Thoughts were openly entertained of resisting the innova- tions of the Government by force of arms. It was even proposed to throw off the yoke of the mother country, and place themselves under the protection of America. They could find no language sufficiently bitter to express their rancour ; and the Colonial Legislatures unanimously refused submission to the recommendations of the Government. 70 THE NEGROES REFUSE TO WORK. [^t. 37. When the Order in Council reached Demerara, the authorities of the colony, endeavoured to conceal the intelli- gence from the black population. Their precautions were worse than useless ; exaggerated rumours soon spread abroad. The negroes fancied that " the great Iving of England" had set them free, and that the planters had suppressed his edict ; and, under this impression, the slaves on several estates refused to work. Compulsion was re- sorted to — they resisted — and commenced outrages on the property and persons of the whites. Martial law was pro- claimed, and the soldiers called out. Destitute alike of organisation, of leaders, and of arms, the slaves were at once reduced to subjection. In perform- ing this duty not one soldier was killed ; but pressed down and running over was the measure of vengeance dealt to the unhappy negroes. " It was deemed fitting," said Mr Brougham, "to make tremendous examples of them. Considerably above a hundred fell in the field, where they did not succeed in putting one soldier to death. A num- ber of the prisoners also, it is said, were hastily di'awn out at the close of the alfray and shot. How many in the whole have since perished by sentences of the court does not appear, but by the end of September forty-seven had been executed. A more horrid tale of blood yet remains to be told. Within the short sj^ace of a week ten were torn in pieces by the lash ; some of these had been condemned to six or seven hundi-ed lashes ; five to one thousand each ; of which inhuman torture one had received the whole, and two almost the whole at once." The Colonists were not satisfied by the severity vidth which the rebel negroes had been visited. For some time the attention of religious men in England had been drawn to the wretched ignorance and depravity of the lower orders in our colonial islands. Various denominations of Chris- tians had sent out missionaries to instruct them ; and the Independents and Weslcyans had distinguished themselves by their Christian zeal. It was no path of flowers which these missionaries had chosen. The Colonists were violently opposed to change ; and with the usual feelings of despotic masters, they could not endure the idea of allowing their slaves to be educated ; yet, in the face of danger and perse- cution, the missionaries persevered, and many of the negroes were brought to the knowledge of religion. The planters had tried every means to stop this " nuisance ; " and when 1824.] DEATH OF MISSIONARY SMITH. 71 the rebellion broke out, they resolved to fix it upon the Christian teachers of tlie negroes. The particulars of " Smith's case," afterwards so ably treated by Mr Brougham, need not here be dwelt on. Suffice it to say, that he was an Independent missionary ; was tried in a manner not only unjust, but absolutely illegal, before a court-martial of militia officers, and condemned to be hanged ; but his treatment in prison destroyed his pre- viously faUing health, and he died in his dungeon.* The news of the ferment among the Colonists, with the rapidly succeeding intelhgence of the revolt of the negroes, of their overthrow, and of the severities inflicted upon them and upon their teachers, soon reached England. The dis- appointment and grief of the leading members of the anti- slavery party were great indeed ; their lukewarm partisans left them at once, and joined in the loud outcry which arose against them. They were denounced as the causes of the disaffections of the Colonists and the disorders among the slaves. The people at large, in looking at the confusions of the Colonies, did not remember how gentle a remedy for the admitted evil of slavery Avas the one i^roposed by j\Ir Bux- ton ; that all parties in England had agreed, with some modifications, as to its prudence ; and that only to the wilfulness and prejudice of the Colonists were these un- happy results to be ascribed. But the angry reproaches which rang in Mr Buxton's ears were nothing compared wdth the mortification he experienced on discovering that the Government, appalled by the consequences of the steps which they had taken, and apparently as regardless of their own dignity as of the interests of their black subjects, were determined to forfeit the pledge which Mr Canning had given — that, if obedience were not voluntarily rendered by the Colonial Legislatures, it should be enforced. Rumours to this effect soon spread abroad ; but they were of so in- * While Smith was dying iu his pri- at it, liis attention was drawn to one son; (which is described as a place only corner of the sheet, and, on examining suited to purposes of torture,) he was it more carefully, he found, written in compelled by his persecutors to draw a mmute hand, the reference "2 Cor. a bill upon the funds of the London iv. 8, 9 ; " on turning to wliich he foimd Missionary Society, in order to defray the text, "We are troubled on every the expenses of his so-called trial, side, yet not distressed; wo are pei'- Many years afterwards, the secretary plexed.butnotindespair; persecuted, of that society, in arranging some old but not forsaken ; cast down, but not paptr.^, met with this bill. In looking destroyed." G 72 MR BUXTON'S POSITION". [JEt. 38. definite a character, that the Abolitionists cotdd not tell what steps the Government proposed to take, nor what pre- parations should be made against them. All the circum- stances seemed to call on Mr Buxton to stop ; but, far from staying his steps, he rather pushed forward. He was con- templating a new plan, namely, the emancipation of all children under seven years of age, ample compensation being granted to the masters : the children were to be edu- cated and maintained by the British Government tUl they were seven years old, and then apprenticed to their former masters ; after which they should be free. The following letters will shew fully how the sense of the difficulty of his position, and of the necessity there was for firmly maintaining it, gradually increased in his mind. On going to London in February, he writes : — "February 9. " As yet we have had no debate on slavery, but oiir foes are so very furious that I imagine we shall soon begin. I am intensely busy. On Saturday we had a meeting, to which I read my plan. The more I think of it, the more I like it. We meet again on Satur- day : in the interim, an attack wiU probably be made on us, which I am to answer. I shall endeavour to do it with effect. We have a capital case as to the Demerara insurrection. Smith is innocent. They have offered him mercy if he wiU ask for it, and he has re- fused, standing on his innocence. I am in excellent spirits, and hold my head very high in the matter, and mean to be rather bold in my defence. I expect to see Canning to-morrow ; he seems very cold to me, and the report is, he will join the West Indians. If he does, we shall go to war with him in earnest." "February 10. "My interview with Canning is for the i^urpose of ascertaining what Government means to do, and of seeing whether he is dis- posed to receive any plan from us." "February 11. " I am so languid with over-thought and over-work, that I hardly know how to write; but it is worth while to spend one's strength on that whicli, if it succeeds, will change the condition, almost the nature, of 700,000 human beings. On Saturdaj^ we meet Canning at twelve o'clock, and Brougham, and all the leaders of our party, at tho Duke of Gloucester's, at three o'clock. Then we shall de- cide on our Cf)ur.se. I am not one bit discouraged, and heartily wish a discussion could be brought about, as I think it would change jiubUc oi)iiiion. How much, hf)W very much happier I am in my Oomer retreat, than in tlie midst of all this bustle and turbulence. When you come I sliall be quieter, I hope. I am obliged to attend constantly at the i louse." 1824.] UNPOPULARITY INCURRED. 73 " Canning's Office, Six o'clock, Feh-uary 14. "We have had a very unsatisfactory interview with Canning. .... The Government mean to forfeit their pledge, and to do nest to nothing I have now seen Canning again. He promises to postpone any declaration to Parliament till he sees my plan." "February 16. " The degree of, opposition I will not call it, hut virulence, against me is quite surprising. I much question whether there is a more unpopular individual than myself in the House just at this moment. For this I do not care. "nth. — The slavery question looks wretchedly. I begin to think that, opposed as we are by the West Indians, deserted by Government, and deemed enthusiasts by the public, we shall be able to do little or nothing ; however, I rejoice that we have tried." It was indeed no light unpopularity which ]\Ir Buxton had incurred. Both mthin and without the walls of the House, ridicule and abuse were heaped upon the Abolition- ists during the first years of their attack on slaverj'. Their conduct was referred to the basest motives, and they were generally stigmatized as fools or knaves, sometimes as both. When the storm was at its highest, one of ]Mr Buxton's friends asked him, " What shall I say when I hear people abusing you 1 " " Say ! " he replied, snapping his fingers, "say that. You good folk think too much of your good name. Do right, and right will he done you." Yet he was not indifierent to the odium which he incurred. Several years afterwards, when public opinion had changed, he ex- presses, in one of his papers, his gratitude to God, "that my privileges and enjojouents in life have not been de- stroyed ; that my enemies (enemies of mine because I am the friend of the enslaved) have not triumphed over me ; that I cannot now say, as David did, and as I was once prone to repeat, ' Keproach hath broken my heart. ' " "February 17. " I see very clearly, that I shall not be able to go down to Cromer ; my absence would further intimidate our few friends, who are sufficiently timid as it is I keep up my spirits pretty well, but what with the mental fatigue I have undergone, and the dis- appointment we have experienced, I cannot feel very light-hearted." "February, 1824. "We had a very bustling day on Saturday; a meeting with Canning at twelve o'clock, in which he told us, that Government had determined to yield to the West Indian clamour, and do nothing, except in Trinidad, where there is no Colonial Assembly. There they will do everything they promised last year. This timidity ia 74 DIFFERENCES OF OPINION. [JEr. 33. very painful. It frustrates aU our hopes, and it will enable the West Indians to say, that we are wild, enthusiastic people, and that the people of England ought to be guided by the sober discretion of Government — which sober discretion is downright timidity." The ministers refused to adopt Mr Buxton's scheme, and as the 16th of March approached, (the day appointed by Mr Canning for the discussion of the question,) the Anti- slavery party, now reduced to a veiy small number, became much discouraged and depressed. The Government did not conceal that they meant to relinquish the policy of the preceding year ; and it seemed probable that, having thus come to a breach with the Anti-slavery leaders, these latter would be treated as scapegoats, on whom public indignar tion might be poured. Under these circumstances, a dif- ference of opinion arose in the Anti-slavery councils as to the course to be pursued. Many advised that the anticipated attack from Mr Canning should be received in silence, and that the Anti- slavery party should not come forward to state their own case till some days afterwards, when the first impression made by his eloquence should have died away. On hearing that the venerable Mr Stephen concurred in this advice, Mr Buxton exclaimed — " 'Tis odds, indeed, when valiant Warwick flies." To the course recommended he himself was altogether opposed : he wished to make a stand at once, and indeed to act on the offensive, by exposing the vacillation of the Government, if it should prove that they did not intend to fulfil the expectations held out in the preceding year. In these views ho was supported by Dr Lushington, Mr William Smith, Mr W. Evans, and Mr S. Hoarc. Thus encouraged, Mr Buxton resolved to persevere : the other leaders gradually fell into his views, and the plan of operations was arranged. The previous division of opinion had, liowever, been a source of great anxiety to him ; and he was almost worn out by his unremitting exertions, which had of late been chiefly directed to the procuring digested proofs of the cruelty with which the slaves were treated, and of the rapid decrease of the black population. He writes on the 12tli February 1824:— "The Aveight of business, and worse still, of thought, wliich overhangs me 1824.] GOVERNMENT DEAWS BACK. lO at this time, is greater than I ever experienced before ; " and on another occasion, — " I am fatigued, I am distressed with fatigue." The prospect before him was full of diffi- culties. The small Anti- slavery party were attacked on all sides with fury. In the House there were hardly more than half-a-dozen stanch friends to the cause, while two hundred members were considered to be more or less directly inimical to it ; and now, if the Government were to be swayed by the tide of public opinion, and abandon its schemes of the previous year, how could the small, un- aided band of Abolitionists indulge the hope of even ulti- mate success in their undertaking 1 Their fears were but too well founded. Mr Canning carefully withdrew from his connexion with those whose principles and measures he had the year before, in a great degree, adopted as his own, but whom he now discovered to be acting " under the impulses of enthusiasm ; " and he informed the House, " that the Government was determined to compel the ameliorations in Trinidad, but to apply for the present no measure more stringent than 'admonition' to the contumacious Colonies." Mr Buxton replied, and fearlessly attacked the Govern- ment for its vacillatmg conduct. He read over the resolu- tions of the year before ; which he justly denominated " a distinct pledge given by Government that the condition of the slave population should be ameliorated." Quoting also Mr Cannings words, that " if the Colonial Legislatures would not consent to these ameliorations, — if any resistance should be manifested to the expressed and declared wish of Parliament, any resistance which should partake, not of reason, but of contumacy, — it would create a case, upon which his Majesty's Government would not hesitate to come down to Parliament for counsel." " Now," said Mr Buxton, " if this full and comprehensive pledge, this engagement given as to all the Colonies, is to be frittered down, at present at least, to a single island; if the advantages promised are to be gi-anted indeed, to the 30,000 slaves in Trinidad, but with- held from the 350,000 in Jamaica, and the 70,000 in Barbadoes ; if the ' earliest period ' is to be construed to mean some time, so unde- fined and distant, that no man can say in what centuiy it will take place ; if our pledge to do this is now to mean no more than that we will suffer it to be done by the slow and gradual course of ad- monition and example — then, I see no reason why ten centuries may 76 MR BUXTON'S SPEECH. [^t. 38. not elapse, before the negroes are freed from their present state of melancholy and deplorable thraldom. We who have engaged in the cause, we, at least, will be no parties to such a desertion of duty, to such a breach of faith. "I well know," he added, "the diflBcult situation in which I stand. No man is more aware than I am of my inability to follow the brilliant and able speech which has just been delivered. But I have a duty to perform, and I will perform it. I know well what I incur by this. I know how I call down upon myself the violent animosity of an exasperated and most powerful party. I know how reproaches have rung in my ears since that pledge was given, and how they will ring with tenfold fury now that I call for its fulfil- ment. Let them ring ! I will not purchase for myself a base in- demnity with such a sting as this on my conscience : ' You ventured to agitate the question; a pledge was obtained; you were, there- fore, to be considered the holder of that pledge, to which the hopes of half a million of people were linked. And then, fearful of a little unpopularity, and confounded by the dazzling eloquence of the right hon. gentleman, you sat still, you held your peace, and wei"e satisfied to see his pledge, in favour of a whole archipelago, reduced to a single island.' " He concluded liis speech, in wliicli lie laid bare a series of acts of atrocious cruelty in tlie treatment of the negroes, by stating distinctly, " What I have now said, I have said from a sense of public duty. I have no hostility to the planters. Compensation to the planter, emancipation to the children of the negro — these are my desires, this is the consummation, the just and glorious consummation, on which my hopes are planted, and to Avhich, as long as I live, my most strenuous efforts shall be directed ! " He was well supported by Dr Lushington, Mr Evans, and Mr Wilberforce. The latter, who, as usual, was hopeful amidst discouragements, thus addresses him on the day after the debate : — "Brompton Grove, March 17, 1824. " My Dear Friend, — It was quite a disappointment to me not to see you at the House to-day. There are points on which I shall be glad to confer with you. Meanwhile I am strongly urged by my feelings to express to you the solid satisfaction with which I take a Kohcr estimate of the progress which, through the goodness of Providence, we have already made, and the good hopes which we may justly indulge as to the future. To find the two Houses of Parliament, each full of members to the brim, consulting about the interests and comforts of those who, not long ago, wore scarcely rated above the level of orang-outang.s, is almost as sure an indica- tion of our complett; success ere long, as the streaks of morning light are of the fulness of meridian day. I hoj)o I may live to congratu- Lito you, even iu this world, on the coniidcte success of your gene- 1824.] THE DEMERARA INSURRECTION. 77 rous labours ; at all events, I trust humbly, that we may rejoice and triumph together in a better world, for we, my dear friend, may, more truly than the great artist, affirm, that we are working for eternity. And our KTrjixa is aei wiU be enjoyed, I trust, in common with many, many of our poor black brethren, when all bondage and injustice, all sorrow and pain having ceased, love and truth, and mercy and peace and joy, shall be our everlasting portion. Oh, my friend, let us strive more and more earnestly for all that is right here, looking forward to these glorious prospects ! " On the 1st of June a motion respecting the missionary Smith was brought forward by Mr Brougham, in a brilliant speech of four hours' length, which produced a strong effect upon public feeling. One remarkable circumstance by which the Demerara insurrection was distinguished, namely, the extraordinary forbearance of the rebel negroes, is thus mentioned by him : — " The slaves," he said, " inflamed by false hopes of freedom, agitated by rumours, and irritated by the suspense and ignorance in which they were kept ; exasperated by ancient as well as more recent wrongs, (for a sale of fifty or sixty of them had just been announced, and they were about to be violently separated and dis- persed,) were satisfied with combining not to work, and thus making their managers repair to the town and ascertain the precise nature of the boon reported to have arrived from England. The calum- niated minister had so far humanised his poor flock, his dangerous preaching had so enlightened them, the lessons of himself and his hated brethren had sunk so deep in their minds, that by the testi- mony of the clergymen, and even of the overseers, the maxims of the gospel of peace were upon their lips in the midst of rebellion, and restrained their hands when no other force was present to resist them. 'We will take no life,' said they, 'for oxir pastors have taught us not to take that which we cannot give,' a memorable peculiarity which drew from the truly pious minister* of the Esta- bUshed Church there, the exclamation, ' that he shuddered to write that the planters were seeking the life of the man whose teaching had saved theirs.' "f Sir James Mackintosh followed, and was succeeded by Dr Lushington, Mr "Wilberforce, Mr Williams, and Mr Denman, The debate was closed by a powerful reply from Lord Brougham. This discussion, as had been pre- dicted, changed the current of public opinion. The nation, which before had partaken of the consternation of the Government, began to awaken to the truth, and from * The clergyman here referred to was the Rev. Mr Austin, whose conduct in this transaction caused his exile from Demerara. t Hansard's Debates. New Series, vol. xi. p. 994. 78 CASE OF MR SHREWSBURY. [^t. 38. henceforth the religious public in England was strongly enlisted on behalf of the oppressed missionaries and their persecuted followers ; and this feeling soon increased into a detestation of that system, of which such intolerance was the natural fruit. On the 15th of June, the subject was renewed in the House by Mr Wilberforce, and a promise was wrested from the Government of extending the Order in Council to St Lucia and Demerara, as well as Trinidad. Mr Buxton passed the autumn at Cromer Hall, recruit- ing his health, and at the same time strenuously exerting himself m procuring information which might assist the future conduct of the cause. In June 1825, he brought before the House the case of Mr Shrewsbury. This gentleman was a Wesleyan missionary in Barbadoes, "in whose conduct," as Mr Canning exj^ressly stated in the House, "there did not appear the sUghtest ground of blame or suspicion." But the planters were exasperated against him for his exertions in the instruction of the negroes and free people of colour ; and it was also charged against him, that he had actually corresponded with Mr Buxton ! " Though," said the latter in the House, " I never received from or wrote to him a single letter ; nor did I know that such a man existed, till I happened to take up a newspaper, and there read, with some astonishment, that he was going to be hanged for corresponding with me ! " On two successive Sundays in October 1823, the doors of !Mr Shrewsbury's chapel were stormed during the hours of divine worship by a furious mob, who did not, however, at that time proceed to actual outrage ; but a day or two afterwards a " proclamation " was published, calling on all the "true lovers of religion" to assemble in arms on the following Sunday, and pull down the chapel and mission- house. This they accordingly did ; but Mr Shrewsbury had concealed himself in the house of a clergyman, " whose kindness," said j\Ir Buxton, "then displayed to a poor, friendless missionary, hunted for his life by an infuriated mob, I will now return, by concealing his name ; knowing, that if I were to mention it with approbation, the fate of Mr Austin of Demerara would await him." " Thoro is," lio continuud, " in tliiw tranyactioii at Barbadoes, as 1825.] DEBATE ON SHREWSBURY'S CASE. 79 there was also in that at Demerara, that which of all things I hate the most, a rank, fierce, furious spirit of religious bigotry domi- nant throughout the island, and pursuing its victims, the one to death, and the other to exile. But there is that, also, which does honour to human nature, and casts a glory round the Church to which I belong, and which I prefer to all others, namely, that these poor victims. Dissenters, missionaries, Methodists, though they were, found their best friends, and their most faithfid advisers, in the ranks of our clergy. Mr Austin, for one of the most noble acts which have been done in our days, is a ruined and banished man ; and I conceal the name of the other, in order to spare him — the honours, indeed, but — the sufferings of martyrdom."* He concluded, not by demanding any punisliment on the guilty parties, but simply by moving that they should be compelled to rebuild the chapel. The House, however, would only join him in a vote of censure upon those con- cerned in the crime. In his reply at the end of the debate, he said, — " I wish it to be distinctly understood that it is my firm and un- alterable resolution to devote aU my life and my efforts to advocat- ing the cause of the slaves ; and that I will persist in that course, in spite of opposition, unpopularity, obloquy, or falsehood." In the beginning of the session of 1826, Mr Buxton mentions that two meetings about slavery had been already held ; and he adds, — " I saw Canning yesterday : he was very friendly ; intimated that the Government meant to do something ; but as he had refused to tell the West Indians what that something was, he also refused to tell us. On Tuesday next I bring forward the London Petition, and we shall have a warm discussion. On Thursday we have Denman's motion on the Jamaica trials — another fierce discussion ; and these will probably be followed by a host of other questions." Mr Buxton presented the London petition against slavery on the 1st of March : it was signed by 73,000 persons. In his speech he praised the Order in CouncU enforced in Trini- dad, and again pointed out how ineffectual had been the recommendations of the Government to the legislatures^of the other islands, " I am anxious," he declared, " to say nothing that can give offence to any party ; but it is my duty broadly to declare my confirmed and deliberate con- viction, that tliis House must do the work themselves, or suflFer it to be altogether abandoned." After the close of this session, there was a pause in the operations of the Abolitionists. As Mr Canning had posi- * Hansard. New Series, vol. xiii. p. 12S5. 80 A YEAR'S PAUSE. [^t. 39. tively declared that the Government would give the Colonial Legislature another year's trial, before it would take the task of amelioration into its own hands, nothing remained for the Anti-slavery party but to await the expiration of that period. CHAPTEE X. 1822-1826. For the last few years Mr Buxton had generally resided with his family in the spring and summer, near the House of Commons, spending, however, much of his time at Ham House, Mr S. Gurney's seat in Essex, and with Mr S. Hoare, at Hampstead. Amid the turmoil of his parlia- mentary life, these country visits were of great advantage to him, as affording him quiet hours for study, and the opportunity of taking those solitary rambles which were the times with him of deepest reflection. In 1825, he took a house in Devonshire Street, Portland Place ; but as long as he remained in Parliament, a day of leisure generally found him and Mrs Buxton either at Hampstead or at Ham House. Mr and Mrs S. Hoare, also, regularly passed the months of September and October at Cromer, and for the first year or two Cromer Hall was held in common by the two families. After the busy summer in London, Mr Buxton highly relished the retirement and recreation wliich this place afforded. He never lost his taste for shooting, and had the reputation of being a first-rate shot. Great pains were taken by him in the management of his game, especially in rearing his pheasants, which used to feed in very large numbers on the lawn, immediately under the drawing-room windows ; yet he was scarcely ever annoyed by poachers. On one occasion, however, while riding along the road, he saw a young man, in an adjoining field, fire at a partridge and kill it. He opened the gate, and riding up to the youth, who seemed not a little startled at the apparition, .said to him, in a somewhat abrupt tone, " Now, sir, allow me to a.sk you three questions : First, what is your name and residence; secondly, whore is your licence; and, thirdly, who gave you leave to shoot over my ground 1 " The young 1822-1827.] THE SPORTING PROFESSOR. 81 man made a low bow, and answered in the blandest man- ner : " My name, sir, is . As to j^our two other ques- tions, with your leave, I'U waive them. Sir, I wish you a very good morning ; " and so saying, to Mr Buxton's no small amusement, he slij^ped out of the field. Once, when he was staying with Mr Coke at Holkham, a well-known professor was also one of the visitors. The venerable historian had never had a gun in his hand, but on this occasion Mr Coke persuaded him to accompany the shooting-party ; care, however, was taken to place him at a corner of the covert, where it was thought the other sports- men would be out of his reach. When the rest of the party came up to the spot where he was standing, Mr Coke said to him, " Well, what sport 1 You have been firing pretty often!" "Hush!" said the professor, "there it goes again ; " and he was just raising his gun to his shoulder, when a man walked very quietly from the bushes about seventy yards in front of him. It was one of the beaters who had been set to stop the pheasants, and his leather gaiters, dimly seen through the bushes, had been mistaken for a hare by the -professor, who, much surprised by its tenacity of Kfe, had been firing at it whenever he saw it move. " But," said Mr Buxton, " the man had never dis- covered that the professor was shooting at him ! " No Arab ever took a greater delight in horses ; and several of his favourites, especially John .Bull, Abraham, and Jeremie, were renowned for their strength and beauty. He was considered a very good judge, and never hesitated to give any price, in order to render his stud more complete. Of dogs, too, he was very fond ; one of his pets came into his possession in a singular manner. He was standing at the door of the House of Commons talking to a friend, when a beautiful black and tan terrier rushed between them, and immediately began barking furiously at ]\Ir Joseph Pease, who was speaking. All the members jumped up, laughing, and some calling out, '* Hear the member for Berkshire;" while ofl&cers of the House chased the dog round and round, tUl at last he took refuge with Mr Bux- ton ; who, as he could find no traces of an owner, carried him home. He proved to be quite an original. One of his whims was to visit, by himself, at the country houses 82 CROMER HALL. [^T. 36-4L in the neiglibourhood of Cromer, and his refined manners and intelligence made " Speaker " a welcome guest, wherever he pleased to go. Once at rest in the retirement of Cromer Hall, Mr Biix- ton began to lose the grave and care-worn expression which usually marked his countenance while under the heavy pressure of business in town ; not that the autumn was wholly spent in recreation; on the contrary, his studies, chiefly bearing on public objects, were steadily pursued. He generally passed the latter part of his evenings alone in his study, frequently remaining there to a very late hour. Cromer Hall was often filled with an easy social party, but he had no Avish to extend his circle much beyond his own relatives, a select few of his parliamentary friends, and the families in the immediate neigbourhood. He had no taste for society of a more formal, and, as he thought, insipid character, nor did he much care for conversation, though at table he would usually enliven the party by his playfulness of manner, and by his store of anecdotes, which he could tell with much force and spirit. He took great pains in providing amusements fop the younger mem- bers of the circle. There is much picturesque scenery around Cromer, and large parties were often collected for excursions to Sheringham, one of the most beautiful spots in all the eastern counties, to the wooded dells of Felbrigg and Run- ton, or to the rough heath ground by the Black Beacon. At home, also, he was energetic in setting on foot amuse- ments for his young friends, such as acting charades, danc- ing, Christmas games, or amusing reading. At one time a family newspaper was started, which appeared once a-week ; and great was the interest excited in reading the various contributions, grave and gay, which every one sent in. Somotinics he would give a list of poets, from whose works the juvenile i)art of the circle were invited to learn by heart ; and examinations were held, witli valuable books as prizes. Otlier schemes of tlie same kind were frequently set on foot, all intended to draw out the mind, and spur it to exertion. His thouglitfulness for others, combined with an unswerv- ing strictness, gave him a remarkable influence over those around him j it lias been tlius referred to by one who was a frequent guest at Cromer Hall : — 1822-1827.] MAXIMS FOR THE YOUNG. 83 " I wish I could describe the impression made upon me by the extraordinary power of interesting and stimulating others which was possessed by Sir Fowell Buxton some thirty years ago. In my own case it was like having powers of thinking, powers of feeling, and, above all, the love of true poetry, suddenly aroused within me, which, though I may have possessed them before, had been till then imused. From Locke on the Human Understanding to ' William of Deloraine good at need,' he woke up in me the sleeping principle of taste ; and in giving me such objects of jjursuit, has added immeasurably to the happi- ness of my life." He more than once recommended Locke on the Under- standing to the perusal of young people, as a useful work in establishing the habit of receiving truth with imparti- ality. "That," he said, "is one of the most important things to impress on the minds of children, habitually to seek for the truth, whether for or against our previous opinions and interests." He certainly illustrated his own maxim, for he was from his youth up remarkably fi-ee from jDrejudices, and ready to give ear to whatever could be ad- duced against his own views. He seems to have had some idea of publishing a Little work, to be called "Maxims for the Young." The follow- ing extracts from the rough memoranda for this work throw light, not only upon his views as to education, but also on his own character : — HINTS FOR MAXIMS FOR THE YOUNG. " Mankind in general mistake difficulties for impossibilities. That is the difference between those who efi'ect, and those who do not. " People of weak judgment are the most timid, as horses half blind are most apt to start. " Burke in a letter to Miss Shackleton says : — " ' Thus much in favour of activity and occupation, that the more one has to do, the more one is capable of doing, even beyond our direct task.' " Plato, ' better to err in acts, than principles.' * Idleness the greatest prodigality. " Two kinds of idleness, — a listless, and an active. " If industrious, we should direct our efforts to right ends. " Possibly it may require as much (industry) to be best biUiard- player as to be senior wrangler. " The endowments of nature we cannot command, but we can cultivate those given. 84 LOVE OF MANLY CHARACTER, [^t. 36-40. " My experience, that men of great talents are apt to do notliing for want of vigour. ' ' Vigour, — energy, — resolution, — firmness of piirpose, — these can-y the day. " Is there one whom difficulties dishearten, — who bends to the storm ? — He will do little. Is there one who ivill conquer ? — That kind of man never fails. " Let it be your first study to teach the world that you are not wood and straw — some iron in you. " Let men know that what you say you will do ; that your de- cision made is final, — no wavering ; that, once resolved, you are not to be allvured or intimidated. " Acquire and maintain that character." "Eloquence — the most useful talent; one to be acquired, or improved ; all the great speakers bad at first. — Huskisson. — How to be acquired. " Write your speeches, — no inspiration. " Labour to put your thoughts in the clearest view. " A bold, decided, outline. " Read ' multum, non multa, — homo unius libri.* " Learn by heart everything that strikes you. — Fox. " Thus ends my lecture ; nineteen out of twenty become good or bad as they choose to make themselves. " The most important part of your education is that which you now give yourselves." He writes to his nephew, Mr Hoare's eldest son, who had been disappointed in the scholarship examination at Trinity : — "Hampstead, April 27, 1827. " I need not, I suppose, say that I have my full share of this dis- appointment; but that is not the subject on which I am going to write. All my advice is crowded into this single sentence, ' Tu ue cede malis, sed contra audentior ito.' " This mortification is a test -which will try your character. If that character be feeble, the disappointment will weigh upon your spirits ; you will relax your exertions, and begin to despond, and to be idle. That is the general character of men : they can do very well when the breeze is in their favour, but they are cowed by the Btorm. If your character is vigorous and masculine, you will gather strength from this defeat, and encouragement from this disappoint- ment. If fortune will not give you her favours, you will tear them from her by force ; and if yoti were my own son, as you very nearly are, I would ratlier you should have failed, and then exhibited this determination, than that everything should have gone smoothly. I like your letter much ; it breathes a portion of this luiconquerable HI)irit, which is worth all the Latin, Greek, and Logaritluns in the world, .and all tlic ]irizes which ever were given. Now, tiien, is the time; be a man and avenge yourself at the next examination. If you are sick at heart, and can't sleep, and laugli, and defy maUcious ] 822-1 826.] SHIPWKECK AT CROMER. 85 fortune, then you may make a very decent banker, but there is an end of you. If you can summon up courage for the occasion, and pluck from this faihire the materials for future success, then the loss of the scholarship may be a gain for life." He could not bear tlie stream of life to run shallow : he liked its tide to be full and strong, longing to make others share in his own impetus and force of character. This delight in manliness of mind led him to set his face firmly against all listlessness in amusement as well as in study. He was much averse to confining boys too closely to the schoolroom, and was always ready to propose holidays ; but then he took care to provide shooting, cricketing, or some other active diversion for them. At the same time he was very strict in enforcing his orders. The tendency of his mind was to assume command in a decisive and even somewhat stern manner ; but this was corrected by the extreme tenderness of his heart, which led him in all things to weigh carefully the feelings and pleasures of those under his authority. " I know," he says in a letter from Cromer Hall, " that I am often harsh, and violent, and very dis- agreeable, but I sincerely think that I do not know a person less inclined than I am to curb the deep desires of others, or to force my views down their throats. I believe I am a true friend to liberty of feeling, and I tliink it high arrogance in one human being to pretend to dictate to another what is for that other's happiness."' His forbear- ance was continually shewn in the turmoil of public life. In transacting business, on committees, and in the conduct of difficult affiiirs with tliose of widely diverging opinions, his subjugation of temper, and his gentle, persuasive manner were remarkable. One of his most faithful supporters at Weymouth thus writes of him : — " It must be well known to every one conversant with contested elections, that nothing can try the temper more, from the unwar- rantable liberty of the press and the unfair means, both in word and deed, used on such occasions ; yet though I have followed the late Sir Fowell through all his hard, long, and severe contests in this borough, I never knew him once lose his temper, once give a harsh reply, or use an unkind word to any one ; nothing ever disturbed the ' even tenor of his way.' " Before the establishment of the floating light oflf Happis- burgh, wrecks were very frequent on the Cromer coast. On any rumour of a vessel in danger, Mr Buzton and Mr 86 PERILOUS EXPLOIT. [^t. 36-40, Hoare used to be among the first on the shore, not merely to urge and direct the efforts of others, but to give their personal aid. On one of these occasions Mr Buxton him- self ran considerable risk in the terrible storm of the 31st of October, 1823, which was long remembered on the Nor- folk coast. About twelve o'clock a collier brig, "The Duchess of Cumberland," ran upon the rocks off the Cromer lighthouse. The lifeboat was immediately brought out, but so tremendous was the sea that no persuasion could induce the fishermen to put off. Once when a wave ran up the beach and floated her, Mr Buxton hoping to spur them on by his example, sprang in, shouting to them to follow him, but without effect. Captain Manby's gun was repeatedly fired, but the line fell short of the vessel, in which nine sailors were seen lashed to the shrouds. At length a huge sea burst over her, and she went to pieces, blackening the waters with her cargo of coal. For an in- stant the spectators looked on in silent awe. " Poor dear hearts, they 're all gone now ! " exclaimed an old fisherman ; but at that moment Mr Buxton thought he saw one of them borne upon the top of a wave. Without waiting for a rope, he at once dashed into the surf — caught the man — flung himself upon him, and struggled against the strong drawback of the retiring billow, until others could reach him, and he was dragged to land with his rescued mariner, both of them in a state of utter exhaustion. The deed was considered by those on shore to have been one of ex- treme perU and daring. He said himself that he felt the waves play with him as he could play with an orange. A prominent feature of his character was the careful cmploj'ment of his influence in promoting the spread of religion around him. On the Sunday evenings his large diuing-i'oom was usually filled with a miscellaneous audi- ence, many of the fishermen and other neighbours collecting round him as well as his own household ; and very im- pressive Avcre his brief but well-digested comments on the l)assage of Scrijjture he had read. His rule was to say nothing unless he liad something really weighty to say. lli.s nianner of speaking shewed that ho was not only a teacher but a learner; he appeared to drink in the tnith, and to appropriate it with an earnestness wliich could not 1822-1826.] STUDY OF THE SCRIPTURES. 87 but excite a corresponding feeling in those who heard him. His sentiments with regard to the study of the Scriptures are thus expressed : — " Undoubtedly it is good to read the Bible ; it is well to read it occasionally ; and if we do no more than take a superficial view of it, and just snatch a few fragments of truth frona it, even this is better than its utter neglect. "But this is not the way to gather from the Sacred Word those treasures of knowledge which it will yield. We must not read it but study it ; we must not cast a hasty glance upon it, but meditate upon it deeply with fixed attention, with full purpose of heart, with all the energy of our minds, if we desire to become masters of the treasures of revelation ; and I am sure that Scripture thus diligently studied, read, marked, learned, and inwardly digested; and read too with prayer for the influence of the Holy Spirit, will furnish us with new light, open to us new views, and will appear to us in itself of a new character, adorned with a variety of beauties, with an emphasis of expression, with a power and a vigour and an appropriateness to our own needs, with a harvest of divine instruc- tion and cogent truth, never yielded to its careless cultivation. I have known men, and men of good understanding, who have been induced to read the Bible, and who have protested that they could make nothing of it, that they could not comprehend it ; — no wonder; it is a sealed book to those who neither ask nor receive the Holy Spirit. " An astronomer looks at the face of the heavens through a tele- scope, spangled with stars and planets, and sees a harmonj'^, an order, a profuse display of power and wisdom. An ordinary man surveys the same sky with the naked eye, and observes nothing of all this : he has not the instrument ; he wants the telescope which would reveal the wonders of the heavens to him. And so it is in reading the Bible; if a man looks at it with naked unassisted reason, he sees little, and learns nothing; he wants the instrument, the Holy Spirit, to guide his inquiries, to enlighten his understanding, to touch his heart. " But if some read it and learn nothing, others read it and learn but little. They begin without prayer, and they end without medi- tation. They read, but they do not inwardly digest; while others embrace its truths, seize and secure its treasures, and, to use the figure of Scripture, receive the engrafted woid which is able to save their souls." Mr Buxton and Mr Hoare had taken much pains in establishing branches of the Bible and missionary societies at Cromer, and from that time they made a point of attend- ing and taking a part in the annual meetings. Only on one occasion was Mr Hoare absent from them, up to the time of liis death — a period of twenty-five years ; and Mr Buxton was scarcely less regular. In every way he strove H 88 LETTER ON STYLE. [^t. 36-40. to promote tlie wellbeing of liis poorer nciglibours : their sufferings touclied him to the quick, and great was his anxiety to relieve them. Proofs that he was popular among them were often given. Having gone one clay to speak to one of the magistrates, in coming out he was surrounded by a crowd of people, one of whom said to him, " I hope, sir, you will attend the meeting to-day." " No, I do not understand magistrates' business." "Yes, sir," answered a man, " you are the poor man's magistrate." TO A FRIEND. "London, Ai^ril 16, 1823. " I will take an early opportunity of moving for the account of tlie stations, and for the number of lives saved by the use of Cap- tain Manby's apparatus ; but the purpose of my writing at present is of a difierent nature. You say ' Pathos is not, in any sense, in my composition,' and you intimated in our conversation last Sunday, that you felt fit for the drudgery of stating facts, but not possessed of the art of giving to your statements entertainment and interest. Now, this is \itteiiy and without reserve untrue. The fact is that all persons, if they set about it aright, have the capacity of convey- ing their feelings to others Honestly speaking, however, I do think there is a certain degree of languor and want of vivacity in your studied productions ; and I am sure I know the cause. You imagine, when you appear before the public, that you must appear in full dress, correct to a nicety — precise to a hair ; and that artless, native na'ivetd, and undi'essed good-humour, are imbefitting so solemn an occasion as an address to the public : in all which you are eminently deceived. You are of opinion that the public is so sagacious a creature as to require only bare facts; that he wants no more ornament or entertainment than a mathematician. Now, believe me, the public neither can nor will receive into his obtuse understanding anything which is not conveyed through the medium of his imagination or his feelings ; and if you want to move him, you must address yourself to those only openings through which he is assailable. All the observations I have made in life, — all the persons who have succeeded, and all those who have failed, furnish proofs of this. I will, however, only give you one. Dr Lawrence, a man of great learning and talents, used to make speeches in the House, admirable for their facts, but to which no man ever attended, except Fox : ho was always seen sitting in the attitude of deep attention ; and when asked the reason, he said, ' Because I mean to speak this speech over again.' He actually did so ; and those facts which, from ]Jr Lawrence, were unbearably heavy, moved and dciiglitcd the House from Fox, and insured certain and silent atten- tion from all. Why ? LecauBo Dr L. thought with you, — and Fox had the good fcjrtiuie to agree with me ! " Now, then, the ajiplication (jf all this. You ought to study the art of couipositiou— the means of conveying to the world your own 1S22-1826.] LETTER ON CANDOUR. 89 views and feelings. I am sure, from your habits of research, and your literary powers and ojiportunities, you may do a great deal of good ; but you are bound to do your best to effect that object, in the way by which alone it can be accomplished — by tickling the fancy of the public. " First, I should advise you, in writing, to put down the native, gay effusions of your own mind ; and to avoid destroying their effect by a cold, correct emendation. "Secondly, I would advise you to study composition; — 'but where ? ' In ' Cicero,' m ' Quinctilian,' in ' Chesterfield's Letters,' (you will smile at the assembly,) in the three papers on the speech of Demosthenes in the EdinhurgJi Review, in ' South's Sermons,' * Junius's Letters,' and the ' Spectator.' Imbibe the spirit of these, and I will venture to assert that the public will feel as you feel, and respond to any appeal you make to them." To a friend who had remonstrated with him on speaking too strongly to a person in power on the subject of slavery : — "1826. "I cannot leave London without acknowledging the receipt of your letter, though I am not veiy well. " Our conversation has left a kind of double impression on my mind. I am glad I spoke out. I have made it a sacred rule to myself never to change my opinion of a man for whom I felt a friendship, without telling him, to his face, what I had to object against him. I have sometimes found myself altogether mistaken ; and often, if not always, there has been something to be said on the other side which I had not anticipated. I am not aware that I ever had a quarrel with any one who had been my friend, and to this good rule I owe my preservation. I am glad, therefore, that I did not disguise what had been long and much on my mind. It is to me matter of amazement that any man of principle can materially differ with me on the subject of slavery. I wonder when I see an honest man who does not hate it as I do, who does not long for the opportunity of giving it a death-blow ; and as I cannot believe that any change of circumstances could make me anything but a favourer, and well-wisher, and encourager to those who were devoted to that duty, I am quite perplexed by finding that there are persons who look upon me, because thus engaged, with an vinfriendly eye. is a man for whom I have ever entertained both respect and liking ; I am therefore glad I hazarded the truth ; but I am not glad that I did it in so strong a manner. I did not tell my whole mind. I wished to have said that I was very sorry I could not acknowledge many services he had rendered to our cause ; but I wished to have said this in sorrow, not in anger : and if I left the impression that I had any feeling of enmity towards him I did myself great injustice." TO A CLERGYMAN. " Cromer Hall, August 22, 1826. "My Dear Friend, — I very much wish you would come into 90 LETTER TO A CLERGYMAN. [^t. 36-40. Korfolk, for I really want to have a conversation with you ; and, it is odd enough, that it is upon a business entirely yours, with which I have no kind of concern. I remember two observations of yours which, httle as I might appear to heed them at the time, made a deep impression on me. The one was, ' I should very much like to be a country gentleman. I would not have the best horses, or dogs, or farms, in the coimty ; but I would exert myself to improve the people who were under my influence. A country gentleman, thus employed, toth vinhiis, might accomplish a vast range of good.' The other was, when you said to one of your parishioners who was fond of music, ' I, too, love music ; I hope to enjoy a great deal of it, but I will wait till I get to heaven.' Now, having had the use of these observations for some years, I feel bound to return them to you for your use and benefit, for it strikes me you want them just at this time. I hear you are going to build a house ; no doubt you will do it with excellent taste ; then it will require to be suitably furnished ; then the grounds must be improved about it, and, by that time, yom* heart will be in it. I am sure that house will lead to your seculari- sation. It will melt you down towards an ordinary country parson ; not the parson who loves his dinner and his claret, but rather towards that refined class of triflers who exquisitely embellish houses and gardens, and who leave the minds and souls of their flocks to take care of themselves. You see I have scratched out ' into ' and inserted ' towards,' because I am bound in truth to confess, that I am sure you will, under any circumstances, and in spite of all seductions be an exemplary clergyman. You will have your schools, and your week-day services, and your sound, hvely, evangelical doctrine in the pulpit ; but what I mean to say is, that just so much of your aflec- tious as you give to your house, exactly so much will you withdraw from your parish. "After all, the discharge of a man's duty, and, d fortiori, of a clergyman's duty, requires all the strength we can give it. The world, and the spirit of the world, are very insidious, and the older we grow the more inclined we are to think as others think, and act as others act ; and more than once I have seen a person, who, as a youth, was single-eyed and single-hearted, and who, to any one who supposed he might glide into laxity of zeal, would have said, 'Am I a dog ? ' in maturer age become, if not a lover of the vices of the world, at least a tolerator of its vanities. I speak here feelingly, for the world has worn away nuich of the little zeal I ever had. ' What is the harm,' you will say, ' of a convenient house ; what is the harm of a convenient house being elegant ; of an elegant house being suitably furnished?' The same personage who insinuates this to you, said to me, ' Where is the harm of having a few dogs — those few veiy good ; you i)reserve game — do it well — do it better than other peoi)le : ' and so he stole away my heart from better things. I have more game, and better horses and dogs than other people, but the same energy, disposed of in a different way, might have spread I'iljlo and missionary Bocietiea over the hundred of North Erjiiiigham. " All thia applies to you, more than to any person I know. You 1822-1826.] LETTER TO A CLERGYMAK 91 have, by a singular dispensation of Providence, obtained a station of influence ; you have a vigour and alacrity of mind with which few are gifted ; upon no man's heart is ' the vanity of this life ' more strongly stamped. You have a great, as far as my experience goes, an vmequalled influence over those around you. These together constitute great power of doing good. The question is, shall you give it wholly to God, walking through life as one who really despises the indulgences on which others set their hearts ; acting fully up to your own creed, and the convictions of your better moments, or will you give two-thirds of that power to God, and one-third of it to the world? Will you have your music here, or will you wait a few years for it ? Old Wesley said, when called upon, according to the act of Parliament, to give an account of his service of plate, in order to be taxed, ' I have five silver spoons ; these are all I have, and all I mean to have, while my poor neighbours want bread.' That is the spirit which becomes a minister. Will you say, twenty years hence, to Death, when he pays you a visit, ' I built this house — by the con- fession of all men, a parsonage in the purest taste ; I selected these pictures : observe the luxuriance of the trees I planted ; just do me the favour to notice the convenience of this library, and the beauty of the prospect from that window'' or will you say, 'I have spent my days in this homely habitation, where there is nothing for luxury to enjoy or taste to admire ; but there is my parish, not a child there but can read the Bible, and loves it too : in every house there is prayer, in every heart there is an acknowledgment of Christ, and that He came into the world to save sinners ? ' I do not mean to say, even if you build your house, that when that epoch arrives you will not be able to shew a very good parish, as well as a very good parsonage ; I only mean to say, that the house and the parish will be the inverse of each other, the better the house, the worse the parish. The less you surroimd yourself with accommodations, the less you conform yourself to the taste of the multitude ; the more exclusively, and the more powerfully, you will do your own work. " No man has a surplus of power : meaning by power — time, talents, money, influence. There is room for the exercise of all, and more than all, which the most aOluent possesses. Perhaps one parish is enough for the full employment of this power ; if not, the neighbourhood will take off the redundance ; if not, there are three quarters of the world which are heathen, and want his aid. There, at least, is full occupation for the wealth of his mind and his purse. It is, therefore, arithmetically true, that so much as he devotes to the secular object he withdraws from the spiritual. It is not more clear, that a man having a large hungry farm for his livelihood, and a garden for his recreation, that as much manure as he spreads on his garden, of so much he deprives his fields. He grows more flowers and less bread. But this is not all : it is not merely the quantum of his force which he thus wastes ; that is the least part of his loss. He touches the world at one point, and the infection reaches him by the contact. If he resembles others in his house, why not in his table ? why not in his society ! why not in anything, which is not positively wrong ? 92 MAURITIUS SLAVE TRADE. [^t. 36-40. "Now every word of this sermon is inconsistent with my own practice ; but never mind that ; truth is truth, whoever speaks it. " It may be a way — ' Out of this wreck to rise in, A sure and safe one, though thy master miss'd it.' " But why do I write all this to you ? Solely because I have the highest opinion of you and your powers. I have watched your course now for many years with interest ; and I am very desirous that the Rector of A should equal the curate of B . The objects of vulgar care, and the pursuits of vulgar ambition, are not for you. I hope to see in yoiu* parish an example of what may be done by a clergyman having talents, income, influence, out of the common order. It just occurs to me that all this may be misapplied, that your house has not, and is not likely to have, a tittle of your affections. Be it so — then give this letter to your housemaid to light your fire with. But if you suspect that you want the friendly free- dom of this hint, in the midst of your present prosperity, keep this as a memorial of the attachment of — yours, very truly, " T. F. Buxton." CHAPTER XL 1826, 1827. The year of trial granted by the Government to the Colonial Legislatures suspended during that time all anti- slavery proceedings. This interval was not thrown away — Mr Buxton at once turned his whole muad to a new, though kindred question. A few months previously, he had received a visit from a gentleman of the name of Byam, who had been commis- sary-general of the police at the ]\Iauritius, and had come home full of indignation at the abuses he had there wit- nessed. He asserted that the slave trade was still prevail- ing in that island to a frightful extent; that the inhabit- ants and the authorities were alike implicated, and that the labouring slaves were treated with atrocious cruelty ; the greater, because their loss could be so easily supplied. The Mauritius had not been ceded to England by France till 1810, whicli was three years after the abolition of the British slave trade. It appeared that, partly owing to this circumstance, and partly to the facilities afforded by the jiroxiinity of the African coast, the traffic had never been put down in those quarters, except during one or two brief intervals. 1826,1827.] TOUCHING INCIDENT. 93 To these startling assertions, Mr Buxton could not yield immediate belief; still less could he refuse to investigate them. From Mr Byam, and other individuals, especially General Hall, (who had been a governor of the Mauritius,) he obtained a large mass of documents, and after a long and ruinute study of their contents, he came to the certain con- viction that the charge was true. He was appalled by the greatness of the evil thus unveiled to him. It was no light matter, however, to begin a struggle with a foe so distant and inaccessible, and at first he shrank from the undertak- ing. But how could he know of such iniquities without standing up against them ? At that time he little thought that in six years British slavery would be done away. He expected a far more lengthened contest ; and, meanwhile, should these horrors be permitted to continue 1 — No ! A 3'ear's leisure lay before him, and, in conjunction with Dr Lushingion and others, he took the task in hand. A plan of operation was soon laid, in accordance with which ;Mr (now Sir) George Stephen, a stanch and here- ditary Abolitionist, took upon himself the labour, demand- ing no less skill than perseverance, of discovering and exa- mining witnessess.* The first of these was INIrs Byam's English maid-servant, who, while in the Mauritius, had done various little acts of kindness to the slaves. One incident related by her powerfully affected Mr Bux- ton. In the middle of the night preceding the departure of Mr Byam's family from the island, she was awakened by a low voice casing to her from without ; she rose, and was terrified at finding the whole courtyard filled with negroes. They beseechingly beckoned her to be still, and then, fall- ing upon their knees, they implored her, as she was going to the country of Almighty God, to tell Him of their suffer- ings, and to entreat Him to send them relief. On the 9th of May 1826, Mr Buxton brought the Mauri- tius C[uestion before Parliament. In the commencement of * Mr Buxton used to relate a conver- piest people in the whole world. He sation as having occurred at his own finished by appealing to his wife. table, in connexion with this question, "Now, my dear, you saw Mr T 's which much amused him. A gentle- slaves; do tell Mr Buxton how happy man who had been resident in the they looked." "Well, yes," innocent- Mauritius, one day dining with him, ly replied the lady, "they were very laboured to set him right as to the con- happy, I'm sure only I used to dition of the slaves, assiu-ing him that think it so odd to see the black cook the blacks there were in fact the hap- chained to the fireplace '. " 94 MAURITIUS SLAVE TRADE. [^t. 36-40. his speech he reminded the House that the traffic in slaves was by law a felony. " And yet," he continued, — " I stand here to assert, that in a British colony, for the last four- teen years, except during General Hall's brief administration, the slave trade in all its horrors has existed : that it has been carried on to the extent of thousands, and tens of thousands; that, except upon one or two occasions, which I will advert to, there has been a regular, systematic, and increasing importation of slaves." He then proceeded to prove this statement, adducing the evidence of one admiral and four naval captains, one general and three military officers, five high civil officers, and two out of the three governors of the island ; and then, from calculations which he had very fully and accurately made, he proved every one of the eight distinct heads of accusa- tion which he had brought forward. By a return of the number of the black population in the Seychelles, he shewed that there was only one alternative, either the slave trade had been carried on, or every female in that group of islands must have been the mother of one hundred and eighty chil- dren.* He concluded his speech by sketching with a power- ful hand the features of the trade which he was attacking — and let the reader, while perusing the following extract, remember, that the same barbarities are going on at this very day, between the West coast of Africa and Cuba. After describing the system of capture, &c., he said, — " The fourth step is the voyage, the horrors of which are beyond description. For example, the mode of packing. The hold of a slave vessel is from two to four feet high. It is tilled with as many human beings as it will contain. They are made to sit down with their heads between their knees : first, a line is placed close to the side of the vessel ; then another line, and then the packer, armed with a heavy club, strikes at the feet of this last line in order to make them press as closely as possible against those behind. And BO the packing goes on ; until, to use the expression of an eye-wit- ness, ' they are wedged together in one mass of living corruption.' Then the stench is so dreadful that I am assured by an officer, that li(j](liiig his head for a few moments over the air-hole, was almost fatal to his life. 'J'hus it is that — suffocating for want of air, — Btai-ving for want of food, — parched with thirst for waTit of water, — these poor creat\ire3 are comj)el!ed to perform a voyage of fourteen hundred miles. No wonder the mortality is dreadful ! " He obtained a select committee to inquire wliether the slave trade had, or had not, existed in the Mauritius. But its investigations were soon arrested by the dissolution of * UaiiHard, V. D. xv. p. 1030. 1823, 1827.] ELECTION AT WEYMOUTH. 95 Parliament ; and in the beginning of June Mr Buxton found himself involved in a stormy election at Weymouth, which at that time, with the united borough of Melcombe Regis, returned four members. The non-electors and the mob were in favour of the Tory candidates, and resorted to main force to prevent the polling of Whig votes ; — their plan was, with the aid of a large body of stout Portlanders, to obtain possession of the town hall, at the further extre- mity of which the booth was placed. No Whig voter reached the table without a violent struggle and very rough treatment. Some were delayed for hours, first by this means, and then by the objections urged by the lawyers ; and so great was the success of all this, that on one day but six votes were polled. To remedy in some degree this evil, the mayor extended the hours of polling from four to six o'clock. This measure was extremely unpopular with the mobility of the place, who of course wished the election to last as many days as possible. It was rumoured that an attack on the town hall was in contemplation, and a strong body of cavalry was called into the town. The mob, how- ever, were not dismayed. At four o'clock they assembled in great force, and suddenly rushed with a loud yell upon the door of the town hall. Some passed under the horses of the soldiers, others pressed between them ; the ranks of the cavalry were broken, and the crowd poured in. At the same moment a great number of them ran over the leads of the houses adjoining the town hall, lowered themselves from the roof into its upper windows, and came tumbling into the hall in crowds, rushing towards the polling booth with loud shouts, and pressing back the gentlemen to the further end. Most of these scrambled out of the windows at once ; a few kept their seats tUl they were almost suf- focated by the mob, but were forced at last to jump from the windows into the arms of their friends below. Subse- quently a large number of special constables were sworn in and placed in the hall. On two successive days the mob broke all their staves to pieces, and drove them out with great violence. Mr Buxton kept himself as clear as possible from these tumults : his own election was throughout secure, and he was personally highly popular. He is described as being 96 LETTERS. [JEr. 36-40. received, even by tlie Tories, " witli loud sliouts of appro- bation ; crowds came about Mm to shake hands ; indeed," adds the letter, "he does not appear to have a person against him in the town." The election lasted fifteen days, at the end of which he was at the head of the poll by a majority of sixty-nine ; but the other Whig candidate was defeated, and three Tories came in. The rest of the year 1826 was chiefly employed in the laborious task of preparing Mauritian evidence for tho ensuing session. For this purpose Mr G. Stephen visited eveiy part of England, where soldiers were quartered, who had at any time served in the Mauritius. The depositions of both officers and men, at HuU, Norwich, Liverpool, Chelsea, and other places were taken ; thus the testimony was produced of 320 witnesses of good character, who all spoke to the fact of a trade in slaves. Early in 1827 Mr Buxton moved for a renewal of the committee ; but, at the request of the Government, his motion was deferred till the 26th of May; and, meantime, he strenuously exerted him- self in the further investigation of the case. In his speech on the 9th of May 1826, he had accused the authorities of the island of culpable neglect. This was highly resented by the late governor. Sir Eobert Farquhar, who, in the beginning of May 1827, complained in tlie House of Commons of the charge, and dared Mr Buxton to the proof. This entailed upon him what he had hoped to avoid, the painful necessity of individual crimination. But he was already almost sinking under the weight of business, and the anxiety with which the whole case was fraught proved at length more than he could bear. His health slicwcd decided spnptoms of giving way, and his physician, l)r Farre, strongly urged him to have recourse to rest and quiet ; but he Avas far too deeply impressed by the suffer- ings of his unhappy clients, to desert their cause while a ])articlc of strength remained. In spite of the feelings of illness which rapidly gained groimd upon him, he spent the week previous to that on which his motion was to come on in severe and harassing labour ; and on the Saturday he made a summary of the evidence which had been collected of the atrocious cruelties practised upon the negroes, 1826, 1827.] ALARMING ILLNESS. 97 botli in their importation, and afterwards, when tliey were reduced to slavery. In the course of that unhappy morning, he was so completely overwhelmed with anguish and indignation at the horrors on which he had been dwelling, that he several times left his papers and paced rajiidly up and down the lawn, entirely overcome by his feelings, and exclaiming aloud, " Oh, it 's too bad, it 's too bad ! I can't bear it." The frightful result which ensued, is thus forcibly de- scribed by himself, some months afterwards. : — " Last spring the whole force of ray mind, and all my faculties, were engaged in preparing for the Mauritius question. I had pledged myself to prove that the slave trade had existed and flourished in that colony ; that the state of slavery there was pre- eminently cruel, and that persons of eminence had tolerated these enormities. It is, I think, but justice to myself to admit, that the. object was a worthy one ; that I had embraced it from a sense of duty ; that my mind was imbued with deep affliction and indigna- tion at the wrongs to which the negro was exposed. I spared no pains, and no sacrifices, in order to do justice to my cause ; and the anxiety and labour which I endured preyed upon my health. About the middle of May I went to Upton, in order to improve it by change of air ; but I was then imder the pressure of disease, and my physician described my state by saying, " you are on fire, though you are not in a blaze." I concealed from others, I did not even admit to myself, the extent of my indisposition. I could not doubt that I felt ill, but I was wilhng to suppose that these were nervous feelings, the effects of fatigue of mind, and that they would vanish, as they had often done before, when the exertion was at an end. " On Saturday, May 19, I took a survey of the case of cruelty to the negroes, and for two or three hours I was distressed beyond measure, and as much exasperated as distressed, by that scene of cruelty and horrid oppression. I never in my life was so much moved by anything, and I was so exhausted by the excitement, that I coidd not that day renew my exertions. The next morning I awoke feeling very unwell. My wife and the family went to a place of worship?, and my daughter remained with me ; I think, but I have not any clear recollections, that I told her about twelve o'clock to send for Dr Farre. I have a vague idea of my wife's return, but beyond that all is lost to me. The fact was, that I was seized with a fit of apoplexy, and it was not till the following Wednesday that I shewed any symptoms of recovery. I am glad that the first object I no- ticed was my dear wife. I well remember the expression of deep anxiety upon her countenance, and I am sure I had seen it before. To her delight I spoke to her, and the words I used were those that expressed my unbounded affection towards her. Thanks to her care, joined to that of my brothers and sisters, and of the medical attendants, I gradually recovered. I remember, however, feeling 98 DELIGHT IN THE PSALMS. [^t. 41, 42. some surprise, as well as mortification, at finding that the day fixed for my motion on the Mauritius had passed. Then came the slow progress of recovery; we went to Cromer; all my pursuits, such at least as required mental exertion, were given up, but hence re- sulted some leisure for reflection. I was deeply affected by the love and mercy of God, that he had been pleased to spare my life, that he had not called me suddenly into His presence. I hope and believe that I have not lost the sense of His goodness. I never can advert to this warning without acknowledging from my heart, that His goodness and mercy have followed me all the days of my life." So deeply had the subject wMcli caused this alarming illness become rooted in his mind, that almost his first words, on recovering full consciousness, were uttered in a decided tone, to the efi"ect that he must get up and go to the House, to bring forward his motion on the Mauritius. When told that the day was already past, he would not give credit to the statement, tUl it was put beyond doubt by reference to the newspaper in which the proceedings of the House on the evening in question were reported. CHAPTER XII. 1827, 1828. The Mauritius case was of course dropped for the year. Mr Buxton returned to Cromer HaU, and for a long time was obliged to relinquish all sedentary occupation. This interval of unaccustomed leisure was not thrown away ; his mind, cut off from its usual employments, turned to review- ing its own state ; and while removed from active life, he was in fact strengthening by reflection and prayer those principles from which his actions sprang. Much larger portions of time were given to religious meditation, and to a diligent study of the Holy Scriptures. The marks in his jjible attest his ready application of the Word of God to liis own necessities. Dates are placed against many pas- sages and memoranda of circumstances to which they IkkI been particularly appropriate. There also exists a large portfolio full of texts, copied by him and arranged under diiferent heads. He greatly delighted in the Psalms; and on one occasion, when, to use his own words, "some cir- cumstances had arisen which involved him in distress of mind," he thus writes : — 1827, 1828.] THOUGHTS ON PRAYER. 99 " Finding comfort no where else, I resorted to the Bible, and par- ticularly to the Psalms ; and truly can I say with David, ' In my distress I called upon the Lord, and he delivered me.' The Psalms are beautiful and instructive to every man who really studies them ; but anguish of mind is necessary to enable us fully to comprehend and taste the pathos and emphasis of their expressions. In David's descriptions of his own anxieties, I found a most lively picture of my own mind. In his eloquent language I uttered my prayers, and, thanks be to God, I was also able to use for myself his songs of rejoicing and gi-atitude. I have spent some hours almost every Sunday over the Psalms, and I have extracted, under separate heads, David's prayers — his assurance that his prayers were heard and answered— his thanksgivings, &c. ; and I meditate, at some future period of leisure, preparing some work for pubHcation on the subject. " This I may, I believe, say, that these studies have had a strong, and I trust not a transient, effect upon my mind. I recur to the Bible with a pleasure and sometimes with a delight imknown to me before. When I am out of heart, I follow David's example, and fly for refuge to prayer, and he furnishes me with a store of prayer ; and I hope ' I love God ' better, ' because he hath heard the voice of my supplication ; and therefore will I call upon him as long as I live ; ' and I feel what the text expresses, which I found in my textbook for this day, ' The Lord is my defence, and my God is the rock of my refuge.' And this lesson I have in some degree learnt, that afflictions, as we consider them, are sometimes the chief and the choicest of mercies." WTien in JSTorfolk the woods were his cliosen retreat for the enjoyment of the " di\T.ne silence," as he called it, of the country. He would take his small well-marked Bible, and wander among the trees reflecting deejDly on what he read. Although he never kept a diary, yet after his ill- ness, he was in the habit of frequently committing his thoughts to paper, and a very large number of these com- munings with his own heart still remain. Many of them are preparations for prayer, according to a habit, which he thus mentions in one of his papers about this period : — " There is a practice which I have found highly beneficial, and should any of my children ever see this memorial, I earnestly ad- vise them to adopt it. " I am in the habit of preparing the substance of my private and family prayers. I believe that we are far too extempore in that duty ; not that I recommend any verbal prejDaration, but a medita- tion upon the points on which we wish to ask the help of God. The want of this seems to me to lead the mind to wander about, and rather to fill our mouths with a train of words to which we are accustomed than our hearts with a sense of our necessities. I, at 100 LETTER TO LORD W. BENTINCK. [^t. 41, 42. least, have found the habit of reflecting on what I shall ask for, before I venture te ask, highly serviceable. " I am bound to acknowledge that I have always found that my prayers have been heard and answered — not that I have in every instance (though in almost every instance I have) received what I asked for, nor do I expect or wish it. I always qualify my petitions by adding, provided that what I ask for is for my real good and according to the will of my Lord. But with this qualifica- tion I feel at liberty to submit my wants and wishes to God in small things as well as in great ; and I am inclined to imagine that there are no ' Uttle things ' with Him. We see that His attention is as much bestowed upon what we call trifles, as upon those things which we consider of mighty importance. His hand is as manifest in the feathers of a butterfly's wing, in the eye of an insect, in the folding and packing of a blossom,* in the curious aqueducts by which a leaf is nourished, as in the creation of a world and in the laws by which the planets move. " To our limited powers some things appear great and some in- considerable ; but He, infinite in all things, can lavish His power and His wisdom upon every part of His creation. Hence I feel per- mitted to ©O'er up my prayers for everjrthing that concerns me. I luiderstand literally the injunction, 'Be careful for nothing, but in everything — make your requests known unto God ; ' and I cannot but notice how amply these prayers have been met. Grant, then, Lord, that I may never fail to pour forth all my burthens, cares, wishes, wants, before Thy throne, that I may love to seek Thy help." About this time Mr Buxton heard, to his great satisfac- tion, that Lord WUliam Bentinck was appointed Governor- general of India, and immediately went up to town to dis- cuss with him the subject of suttee, and to urge him to employ his authority for the abolition of that atrocious practice. A short time afterwards he addressed the follow- ing letter to him : — "Cromer Hall, October 22, 1827. " My Dear Lord, — The short interview which I had with you lately has been to me a matter of sincere gratification. I now feel that I can leave in your hand the question, whether the British Government ought, or ought not, to tolerate the annual sacrifice of several hundred females; and I have the satisfaction of knowing that you will do everything which oxight to be done. When Mr Canning was going to India, I ventured to trouble him on the busi- ness : his answer was the same as I received from you. He assured me that the subject should engage his most serious attention, and that what he could ilo should be done. I have always lamented that lie did not go to Imlia, fiom a conviction that his great mind would have been ill at case while such horrid customs as suttee and infan- * Ho continunlly pointed out tho poodness ; so that Mrs lloarc's cbil- pncking of liud.f uikI Iouvus .as bcauti- drcu used to call the early spring buds tul iirouls of the Uivjjiu wisdom and " Uncle 13u.\lou's semioua." 1827, 1828.] NORTHREPPS HALL. 101 ticide prevailed. Forgive me for saying, that I feel the same confi- dence in your Lordship as I did in Mr Canning." It is well known that, soon after Lord William Bentinck reached India, he abolished the practice of suttee at a single blow. Mr Buxton hailed the news with delight and thankfulness. The evil had indeed been extirpated by the hand of another ; but he had the satisfaction of feeling that no opportunity had been wasted by him of forwarding that happy event. In the course of this winter, Mr Buxton was obKged, with much regret, to leave Cromer Hall ; the proprietor, ilr Windham, ha\dng determined to replace it by a new mansion for his own residence. There was no house equally suitable near Cromer; but being much attached to the neighbourhood and very unwilling to leave it, he gladly accepted Mr E. H. Gurney's offer of Northrepps Hall, which, although smaller than his last place of abode, yet possessed many points of attraction ; especially that within a quarter of a mile Uved his sister Miss S. M. Buxton, and his cousin Miss Gurney. Northrepps Cottage, the residence of these ladies, stands in a deep secluded dell, opening on the fishing village of Overstrand and the German Ocean. The path to it from the hall lies through the woods ; and thither he always turned his steps when his spirits needed to be enlivened, or his anxieties shared ; well knowing that his presence would ever be hailed with eager delight. He was scarcely settled at Northrepps, when he was called to London to resume his parliamentary labours, which had been so unfortunately cut short in the preceding year. His exertions were first called for on behalf of the West Indies. The year of probation granted by Mr Canning to the Colonial Assemblies had now more than expired ; and they had done nothing towards the mitigation of slavery. Of the eight bUIs recommended for their adoption by Mr Canning, not one had been accepted by any colony, except Nevis. But the Government were not yet discouraged ; they were still anxious to persuade, rather than to compel. Nor could they be blamed for trying every method of suasion, before resorting to force. The right of the mother country to legislate directly for her colonies had, in one 102 DEBATE ON SLAVERY. [^t. 41, 42. great instance, been successfully defied. It miglit, therefore, have been no wise policy to attempt coercion, till all gentler methods had been tried in vain. Accordingly, in 1828, Sir George Murray, as a last experiment, despatched circular letters to all the Colonial Assemblies, once more urging them, in strong terms, to effect for themselves the required improvement in the condition of their slaves. Most truly did ;Mr Stanley state, in his speech on the 14th of May 1833, that it was not " till all means had been exhausted ; till every suggestion had been made ; till every warning had been given ; and had not only been given in vain, but had been met by the Colonial Legislatures with the most deter- mined opposition, that England took the work of recon- structing West Indian society into her OAvn hands." These circular letters were " entirely disregarded." Had Mr Buxton been in vigorous health, he would cer- tainly have done what he could to obtain bolder measures from the Government, but his bodily powers failed him. On the 6th of March, Mr WUmot Horton brought for- ward a motion for the publication of some minutes relative " to the Demerara and Berbice Manumission Order in Coun- cil," to prove the desirableness of its not being enforced Mr Buxton had brought together some documents from which to answer Mr Wilmot Horton ; but he became so unwell that he was obliged to give up the attempt to peruse theiu, and went down to the House of Commons without any intention of speaking. To his dismay he found, on reaching the House, that Mr William Snaith was the only Abolitionist present beside himself Mr Wilmot Hor- ton's opening speech was extremely able, and >vas listened to by Mr Buxton with feelings of real distress, while he looked in vain towards the door of the House, in the hope that Mr Brougham or Dr Lushington might come to the rescue. At length a bitter tirade against the Abolitionists from one of tlieir opjjonents stung him to the quick ; and he rose to reply, begiuniiig witli a somewhat severe conunent "on the acrimonious speech of the hon. member for C , who, after a long lecture on command of temper and control of tongue, has ended," he said, "by charging us with exaggera- tion, misrepresentation, quackery, and nonsense." 1827, 1828.] .. MR BUXTON'S REPLY. 103 " I must confess, however, that he has sneered at us in very good company; the rights of man and the laws of God were equally visited by his sarcasm. Now, I defy him to prove any one instance of mis- representation. I challenge him to abstain from general condemna- tion, and to put his finger upon that particular in which we have deceived the country. 1 will do so with regard to him — I will mark out those particulars in which he himself has been guilty of misre- l^resentation." He then went tliroiigh the common assertions of the "West Indians — they had denied the existence of flogging; of Sunday markets ; of obstacles to manumission ; he proved, and from the evidence of the West Indiaas themselves, that these did exist. His opponents were for ever dwelling on the happiness and comfort of their slaves — "But how comes it," he asked, "that these happiest of the happy decrease at a rate entirely unequalled in the history of man ? . . . . The hon. member has indignantly censured my hon. friend (Mr W. Smith) for introducing the phrases ' rights of men and laws of God ; ' and I do not wonder that he is somewhat provoked at these obnoxious exj^ressions ; for one Cannot think of slavery without perceiving that it is an usurpation of the one and a violation of the other. The right hon. gentleman, the mover of this motion, tells us that no one can reconcile the promise we have given for the extinction of slavery with a promise which we have also given for a due consideration of the rights of the parties interested. We are reduced to the alterna- tive, he tells us, of sacrificing the planter to the interests of the slave, or the slave to the interests of the planter. If we are in that predi- cament, and must decide for the one or the other, my judgment is unequivocally in favour of the slave. And it is a consideration of the ' rights of man, and the laws of God ' which leads me to that imequivocal decision." He concludes in these words : — " I would give the negro all that I could give him with security ; I would do every possible thing to mitigate and sweeten his lot : and to his children I would give unqualified emancipation. Having done this, I would settle with the planters. I am a friend to compensa- tion — but it is compensation on the broadest scale Do you ask compensation for him who has wielded the whip ? Then I ask compensation for him who has smarted under its lash ! Do you ask compensation for loss of property, coutigent and future ? Then I ask compensation for unnumbered wrongs, the very least of which is the incapacity of possessing any property whatever. If compen- sation be demanded, we re-echo the demand. It is that which we most fervently desire ; only let it be just compensation, dealt out for the many who have suflered, and not confined to the few who may sufifer in one particular." One of his friends writes to Mr J, J. Gurney : — " The whole House was carried along by his earnestness, cheered 1 104 MAURITIUS SLAVE TilADE. [JEt. 41, 42. him veliemently, and listened attentively. He was much congra- tulated on the success of his reply." Little more could be done towards advancing the anti- slavery question during this session. Mr Brougham, who had intended to bring it forward, was prevented from doing so by ill health ; and Dr Lushington's duties were too onerous to permit of his carrying on the struggle single- handed ; but during the last year he and Mr Brougham had been engaged in their arduous contest on behalf of the free people of colour in the West Indies, endeavouring to rescue them from their painful and humiliating position. At length, in the session of 1828, their efforts were crowned ■v\dth complete success. An Order in Council was issued, by which they were at once placed on the same footing in every respect as their white fellow-citizens ; a measure iraught with momentous consequences to the welfare of the West Indies. On the 20th of March, Mr Buxton had an interview with Mr Huskisson. He offered to put Government into possession of all his documents and evidence respecting the slave trade at the Mauritius, if they would go on with the inquiry, as he was unable to do so, and he strongly urged them to take it up. Mr Huskisson replied, that they would consider about it, and desired that documents relating to the cruel usage of the slaves should be sent to him. He also assured Mr Buxton that the trade was now stopped, that the registry was enforced, and that some Orders in Council would be sent out and put into operation. No other steps were at present taken by the Government ; they had previously sent out a commission of inquiry, and further measures were deferred till its report should have been received. CHAPTER XIII. 1828, 1829. ALTiiOTinit unable to take much part in public affairs during this session, yet, at the instance of the Rev. Dr Philip of tlie Cape of Good Hope, Mr Buxton made an effort in behalf of the Hottentots winch was crowned with easy and conipU'te .success. Eight ycar.s before, Dr Philip had been sent out by the 1828, 1829.] THE HOTTENTOTS. 105 London Missionary Society, on a deputation appointed to inquire into the state of their missions in South Africa. In the course of these investigations he had become ac- quainted with the grievous state of degradation in which the Hottentots were held by the inhabitants of the colony, and especially by the Dutch boors. One hundred and seventy years before, they had been the undisturbed pos- sessors of that fertile tract of country which is now com- prehended under the name of the " Cape Colony." In 1652, the first Dutch settlement was formed, and the curse of Christian neighbours fell upon the hapless owners of the land. The first germ of the treatment they met with may be seen in the following extracts from the journal of Van Riebech, the Dutch governor : — " JDecemher 13, 1652. " To-day the Hottentots came with thousands of cattle and sheep close to our fort, so that their cattle nearly mixed with ours. We feel vexed to see so many fine head of cattle, and not to be able to buy to any considerable extent. If it had indeed been allowed, we had opportunity to-day to deprive them of 10,000 head, which, how- ever, if we obtain orders to that effect, can be done at any time, and even more conveniently, because they will have greater confidence in us. With 150 men, 10,000 or 11,000 head of black cattle might be obtained without danger of losing one man ; and many savages might be taken without resistance, in order to be sent as slaves to India, as they still always come to us unarmed." A day or two later we find Van Riebech " wondering at the ways of Providence, which permitted such noble animals to remain in the possession of heathens." It was not long before he thought it best to thwart the ways of Providence instead of wondering at them ; and the system wliich he began was carried out by the Dutch, and afterwards by the English, until the Hottentots had sunk to the lowest depths of misery. Nothing can be more painful than the accounts given of them at the time of Dr Phihp's first visit to the Cape. They were not like the negro slaves, the legal pro- perty of certain individuals ; they were at the mercy of all who chose to oppress them and compel their services : not even possessing that degree of protection which the hateful system of slave ownership afibrds. Their tribes were public property, and any one might seize as many of them as he pleased for his private use. Their rich lands and vast 106 MR PHILIP'S RESEARCHES. [^t. 42, 43. herds of cattle had long since become the spoiler's prey. At the caprice of the Dutch boors they were subjected to the heaviest labours, to every species of harassing annoy- ance, to every kind of revolting punishment. Beneath this grinding misery their numbers had dwindled, their persons had become dwarfed, and their minds brutalised, till the very negro slaves looked down on them as lower and baser drudges, far below the level of mankind. In 1822 Dr Philip returned for a short time to England, and communicated this information to Mr WHberforce, Dr Lushington, and Mr Buxton, who agreed that the former should move in the House for a commission of inquiry to proceed to the Cape ; as also to the Mauritius, and to Ceylon : this was accordingly done, and in 1824 we find Mr Buxton moving for the reports received from these com- missioners ; which afforded some information of value. In 1826 Dr Philip again came back to England, and after a time published his " Researches in South Afi'ica," which excited much attention ; and he urged Mr Buxton to bring the case of the Hottentots before Parliament. Although feehng great interest in the subject, Mr Buxton was too deeply engrossed by the Mauritius question to turn aside at that time. In 1828, however, he was able to make him- self master of the subject, and gave notice of a motion for an address to the Eang on behalf of the natives of South Africa. He writes, July 1828,— " I have not yet determined what I shall say about the Hotten- tots. I shall take as the foundation of my argument their legal freedom, prove that they are practically slaves, and demand that we act up to our engagement and make them free ; but it is doubtful if I shall speak. Government will probably give way to my motion, on condition that I abstain from speaking. Terms not to be re- jected, I think." To this compromise the Government agreed. Mr Buxton Brought forward his motion without a single comment ; and Sir George Murray, (Secretary for the Colonies,) then rose and briefly expressed the concurrence of the Government. The address was unanimously agreed to, and tlie Hottentots were free ! Mr Buxton walked up to Dr Philip, after the motion had been carried, and said, "Ah, these men do not know the good tlicy have done !" 1828,1829.] ORDER IN COUNCIL. 107 In a hasty note to Mrs Upclier, lie thus announced the triumph : — "July 17, 1S2S. " 1 have only time to say that we have recorded a resolution of the House of Commons, with regard to the Hottentots, which is their Magna Charta ; and which will spread liberty, and, with hberty, a thousand other blessings over that great and growing territory." THE REV. DR PHILIP TO T. F. BUXTON, ESQ, "July 16, 1828. " My Dear Sib, — The more I reflect upon the decision of Parlia- ment on Tuesday evening, the more I am struck with its importance. It is intimately connected with all the great questions now before the public, which have for their object to ameliorate the condition of the coloured population in every region of the globe ; it is one of the principal stones in the foundation of that temple which Mr AVilberforce has been so long labouring to rear for the protection of the oppressed ; and it has given a strength and an elevation to the building, which will render the whole more secure, and its future progress more easy. I wish you could be present at our missionary stations when the glad tidings shall be announced; you would see many a sparkling eye, many a cheek furrowed with tears of joy, and hear your name associated with many a thanksgiving to God for this unexpected deliverance." It was a singular coincidence that, only two days after this motion had passed in Parliament, Major General Bourke, the just and humane Governor of the Cape, pro- mulgated an ordinance, (well known afterwards as the Fiftieth Ordinance,) by which the Hottentots were placed on the same footing as the other inhabitants of the Colony. As soon as Sir George Murray heard of this step, an Order in Council was issued, (January 15, 1829,) ratifying the ordinance, and, moreover, prohibiting any future alteration of it by any colonial authority. When Mr Buxton, Mho had spent the autumn and winter at Northrepps, came back to London for the session of 1829, he found the business thus happily concluded. He sent this intelligence to Mr J. J. Gurney ; but begins his letter by alluding to the excitement which prevailed on account of the Duke of Wellington's expressed intention to take into consideration the removal of the Catholic disabi- lities : — "Fehrmry 9, 1S29. " We had a slave meeting at Brougham's yesterday; and S. Gurney woiold go with me, to prevent them from putting too much upon me. Brougham, Mackintosh, Denman, Spring Rice, Wm, 108 THE HOTTENTOTS SET FREE. [^T. 43, 44. Smith, Macaulay, were the party. They were all in the highest glee about the CathoUcs; Brougham particularly. They seemed exquisitely delighted with the vexation of the Tories, who are, and have reason to be, they say, bitterly affronted ; and the great ones among them vow they will have an apology, in the shape of some good place, or they will never forgive the Duke for letting them go down to the House as strong Protestants, and insisting upon their returning, that very day, &tout Catholics ! They say they do not mind changing their opinions, — that is a duty which they must sometimes pay to their chiefs, — but they think it hard to be obliged to turn right-about-face at the word of command, without a moment being given to change their convictions. " The Duke is very peremptory. The story goes, that he said to Mr , who has a place under Government, ' We have settled the matter, and hope you like it.' Mr said, he would take time to consider it. ' Oh yes ! you shall have plenty of time ; I don't want your answer before four o'clock to-day. I shall thank you for it then ; for, if you don't like our measures, we must have your office and seat, for somebody else.' " To-morrow we are to have a fierce debate. The High Church party are very furious, and talk of calling upon the country ; and I expect we shall have a good deal of bitterness. "As to slavery, we determined not to fix our plans for a week, in order to see the turn this Catholic business is likely to take, for the House will hear nothing else now ; but we are to have a day fixed for Brougham's motion before Easter. He wanted me to begin on the Mauritius ; but I said, ' No ! if they are not in a temper to hear you, I am sure they will not hear me.' " Spring Rice said that he had seen General Bourke, late Gover- nor of the Cape of Good Hope, who tells him that Government have sent out an Order in Council, giving entire emancipation to the Hottentots. If this proves true I shall be excessively delighted, and shall never say again that I am sorry I went into Parliament ; not that I did much in the business, but I flatter myself I did a little. Do get M. to read Dr Philip's book on South Afi-ica. I think you would not repent if you did the same. I am very well, and in good spirits, though somewhat worried about the tiresome mines, which want attention." His delight was well-founded. From the day that the Fiftieth Ordinance became law, the Hottentots were raised to the level of their white oppressors, they Avcre protected Ly the same laws, they could own projicrty, they could de- mand wages in return for their labour, they could no longer be seized "like stray cattle" if they left their village bounds ; in short, they were become a iiee i)eoplc ; and since that day civilisation and Christianity, with all their retinue of ])lessings, have flourished among them. For a while dismal forebodings and fierce complaints rang among the Colonists 1828, 1829.] KAT RIVER SETTLEMENT. 109 at tliis sudden inroad upon their oppressive privileges ; but after a few slight commotions, both their anger and their fears died away : and the experience of eighteen years has abundantly approved the wisdom as well as the justice of this important measure. In 1833 Colonel BeU (the Government Secretary for the Colony) stated that, — " As to that large proportion of the Hottentots who remained in the service of the Colonists as free labourers, their character and condition are every day improving. Those settled at the Kat River, as small farmers, have made a very surprising progress. A large portion of them, from being an indolent, intemperate, and improvi- dent class, have, since a field was opened for virtuous ambition, become industrious, sober, and prudent in their conduct." In the same year Captain Stockenstrom (Chief Civil Com- missioner of the Eastern Province) writes : — " The Hottentots at the Kat River have cultivated an extent of country which has surprised everybody who has visited the location. .... Instead of apathy or indifference about property, they have become (now that they have property to contend for) as covetous and litigious about land and water as any other set of Colonists. They have displayed the utmost anxiety to have schools established among them They travel considerable distances to attend divine service regularly. Their spiritual guides speak with delight of the fruit of their labours. Nowhere have temperance societies succeeded half so well as among this people. They have repulsed all the attacks of the Caffres. They pay every tax, like the rest of the Colonists. They have rendered the Kat River by far the safest part of the frontier As far as the land is arable, they have made a garden of it from one end to the other." According to Colonel Wade,* '"They had, in 1833, completed 55 canals for irrigation, 44 of which measured 24 miles ! Their works," said he, "give the best evidence that the Hottentots can be as industrious, and are as capable of contending with ordinary difficulties, as their fellow-men." Dr Philip had described the Hottentots in bondage, as " In a more degi'aded and imbruted state than they were in a state of nature; trampled upon by their masters; held as a perqui- site of office by the Colonial Governor; regarded by the negro slaves as only fit to be their drudges ; despised by the Caffres, and by all the natives in a state of freedom ; and represented by travel- lers as scarcely possessing the human form, as the most filthy, stupid beings in the world; as scarcely to be considered belonging to the human race." He thus describes them after their settlement at the Kat River : — * Evidence before Aborigines' Committee. 110 LETTERS. [JEt. U " The Kat River now presents a scene of industry, sobriety, and decency, not surpassed by the peasantry of any country in Europe. They are building themselves good houses ; they are very decently clothed; their industry is admitted, even by their enemies." In 1839, Mr Backhouse mentions his having visited the Hottentots, and found them "dressed like decent, plain people of the labouring class in England. In the sixteen tchools of the Kat River district, they had about 1200 scholars, and an attendance of about 1000." * CHAPTER XIV. 1830. Mr Buxton's own health was much restored during the winter of 1829 ; but illness in his family caused him severe anxiety. On leaving home, when this was in a great measure relieved, he writes : — "I was very sorry that I was only able to write that short, shabby letter, which I sent this morning. I never before felt my heart so entirely riveted to home; everything else seems flat, except that centre of my afiFections. " But now for a history of my travels. Nurse and I were very good friends, and had some instructive conversation upon the pleas- ing subjects of wounds, operations, &c. ; and I presume I won her heart, as she began and concluded every sentence with, ' My dear sir.' I lapsed, however, at last, into my books. It was a wretched night ; but I was none the worse for that, as my greatcoat and snow shoes kept me from cold. I soon set myself to a review of late events, and that led me to go over my list of the mercies which have been granted to me, and a grand list it appears. When I go over it item by item, the account seems surprisingly large. Mercies of all sorts Then, children to my heart's content; brothers and sisters the same ; friends the same ; station in life and circumstances the same; the public objects to which I have been directed the same ; and there are fifty other dittos of the same order. Then my own life, so often preserved, and my children, given to me, as it were, a second time. I read some lines lately in one of those wicked news- I)ai)erH, (as called them,) the WvikJij Diajmtrh, which I must get hold of again. I fr)rget the lines ; but their substance was, that ere long death shall open his casket ; and they end thus : — ' Then sliall I sec my jewels to my joy, my jewels me.' ■ " Then come personal mercies of the same sort. I have clear, undouhting views of the efficacy of ])rayer. I know the Holy Spirit will be granted to tiiosc who ask for it, and I see wonderful mercy, love, and grandeur developed throughout all creation ; and I know • Backhoiiso's " Narrative of a Visit to South Africa," p. 186. 1829,1830.] LETTERS. Ill that I have a Redeemer ! Upon these grounds, and such as these, I am thoroughly thankful, or rather I perceive that I ought to be so. " These thoughts, and hearty prayers for us all, with a fond recol- lection of the dear invalids I had left, carried me to Ipswich ; and after that I cannot give a very clear account of anything, having fallen sound asleep. The snow became so deep, that we were obliged to part with the guard and the bags, who rattled away in a postchaise and four ; while we crawled into the fog of this great town. I dressed at the Brewery ; went to Lombard Street, to Macaulay's, and to the anti-slavery meeting, (we are to meet again at Brougham's on Friday evening, I believe ; so forgive me for not giving you the his- tory of our proceedings ;) then to Dr Lushington ; then to the Real Del Monte; then to dinner at the London Tavern by myself; then to the meeting about the Indian widows, from which I have just returned. " I am really eager to know whether the storm produced any wrecks : I trust it did not ; or if it did, that Anna Gurney saved the crew, and is now subjecting them to a second and a greater peril, from repletion at the Cottage. Then the whale ; then Cromer Hall ; * then Mrs Fry. Why, what a wonderful place Cromer is ! This big city cannot supply half as much real important news as little Cromer can furnish. — Your affectionate husband, father, brother, and friend,. T. Fowell Buxton." Again, during a second visit to London : — " I had a pleasant journey, going outside as far as Bury, for the purpose of satisfying myself \tith surveying the stars. I never was out on a finer night, or was more sensible of the majesty of the spectacle. A man must preach very well indeed before he conveys such a lesson of the greatness of God, and the unworthiness of man, as a view of the heavens discloses. It always strikes me that such a sight turns into downright ridicule and laughter our (in our own eyes) important pursuits." TO MRS BUXTON. " London, February 9, 1830. " I am in good spirits and health, and not without a sense that mercy and truth and love are about me in my solitude before you come What a comfort it is to me that you are all going on well. It seems to make all other things easy and light. I have my worries, but I do not regard them. As for the affairs of the mines, which just now are a bit of a torment, I depend upon it, that it will come right ; and as to public matters, they are not at my disposal ; I can only do my best, and leave the result to Him to whom those good causes belong." The mining companies alluded to above, to which he belonged, involved him in considerable loss of property, and their affairs were often a subject of anxiety to him. The details would be of course unsuitable and uninteresting to * This refers to incidents which had recently occurred — the capture of a largo whale, and a fire at Cromer HalL 112 BEER BILL. [^T. 44. the general reader ; but those who had the opportunity of observing his conduct in these transactions, attest that it eminently displayed his clear judgment, his firmness of pur- pose, his ability to resist the infection of panic, and his dili- gent and generous regard to the interests of others. Another matter of business that occupied him during this spring was the bill for throwing open the beer trade, to which he thus alludes : — TO JOSEPH JOHN GURNET, ESQ. " House of Commons, March 19, 1830. " I am far from being dissatisfied with the beer revolution. In the first place, I do not know how to be so ; I have always voted for free trade when the interests of others were concerned, and it would be awkward to change when my own are in jeopardy. Secondly, I believe in the principles of free trade, and expect that they will do us good in the long run, though the immediate loss may be large. Thirdly, I have long expected the change. And, lastly, I am pleased to have an opportunity of proving, that our real monopoly is one of skill and capital.* " I have a letter from Calcutta, saying that suttee has been suppressed by Lord William Bentinck. Is not this comforting ? I am also not without hopes that Sir G. Murray will do right about my Mauritius slaves Peel tells me he is with us about capital punishments, but says 'yo<^ must give me time.' On slavery, nothing new. Colonists will do nothing. I am strongly in favour of bolder measures on the part of the Abolitionists, and think they will be taken. " I am now attending, and (as you may observe) listening to, a debate on the distress of the nation, meaning to vote against the conspi- racy of High Tories and Radical Whigs, and in favour of Government." Our readers will recollect the efforts made in 1821 and tlie following years for the reform of the penal code. Sir James Mackintosh had continually kept the subject in viev.', and had made various attcm})ts, but apparently without success, till Mr Peel, after taking office in 1826, commenced his revisal of the code. He cleared the statute-book of many obsolete and barbarous acts, and arranged and con- solidated the whole body of criminal laws. In the progress of this great work, Mr Peel introduced, in the year 1830, a bill for the consolidation of tlie laws relating to forgery. He, liowevcr, retained the punishment of death in several cases, and, on this point, a strong o])position was raised in • Ucfcrring sonio yo.irs iiftorwards it was right ; it broke in ui>on a rotten to the ciiormouH «um wliichtlio twelve jiart of our system — I am glad tliuy liirt^cst brcworioB ill London had lost ainimtatcd us !" by thl.s beer bill, he remarked, " liut 1830.] THE BANKERS' PETITIOK 113 Parliament, wMlst out of the House, Mr Sidney Taylor effected a change in public opinion through the columns of the Morning Herald. It had long been Mr Buxton's opinion that death for injury to property was adverse to the interests, as well as to the feelings, of the commercial world in England. It happened that one Sunday morning during this period, he was visited at breakfast by Mr John Barry, who suggested the extreme importance of getting this feeling formally expressed ; whereupon Mr Buxton dictated the following petition : — " That your petitioners, as bankers, are deeply interested in the protection of property from forgery, and in the conviction and punishment of persons guilty of that crime. '■ That your petitioners find, by experience, that the iniiiction of death, or even the possibility of the infliction of death, prevents the prosecution, conviction, and punishment of the criminal, and thus endangers the property which it is intended to protect. " That your petitioners, therefore, earnestly pray that your honourable House will not withhold from them that protection to their property which they could derive from a more lenient law." This form of petition was sent to aU the principal towns in the kingdom, and quickly obtained the signatures of firms representing above 1000 bankers. It was presented on the 24th May by Mr Brougham, Sir James Mackintosh's amendment to abolish capital punishment for forgery, was, however, lost ; but imme- diately after this defeat Mr Buxton returned into the House, and gave notice (in the name of Sir James Mackin- tosh) of another motion to the same effect on a further stage of the bUl. On this debate a majority was obtained against the punishment of death for forgery ; and, though this decision was reversed by the House of Lords, the question was virtually settled. No execution has since taken place for forgery in Great Britain. In succeeding years the infliction of capital penalties was more and more reduced by the efforts of Mr Ewart, Mr Lennard, and others, to whose exertions Mr Buxton always gave, while he remained in Parliament, his stre- nuous assistance ; and it is satisfactory to know that the number of crimes now legally punishable with death is reduced from 230 to eight or nine ; and that, practically, no executions now take place in England or Wales, except for murder. 114 HOPELESS ILLNESS OF HIS SON. [JEr. 44. At the close of this summer Mr Buxton Avas called away from his public duties by the illness of his second son, a youth of great promise, "who shewed a tendency to con- sumption.* When the disease suddenly assumed a very alarming character, Mr Buxton writes, after detailing the circumstances : — " I felt in the night a deep sense of the goodness of God and un- bounded confidence in Him, and was ready to place my child and everything in His hands. " I awoke in the morning under an overwhelming load of distress ; the wretchedness of our present situation burst upon me before I had time to collect my consolations My prayer was, first, heartfelt thanks to God for His goodness and mercy ; an acknow- ledgment that He had dealt most lovingly with us in every, every event, an assurance that this stroke, terrible as it seemed, was mercy and love, and I thanked Him for it. Next did I cordially thank Him for Harry's state of mind, so sweet and lovely ; thanked Him that he was evidently a lamb of Christ's fold, and prayed that he might be strengthened with might in the inner man The text. ' these light afflictions which are but for a moment,' was deeply comforting. Positively, they are heavy, and grievous, and lasting ; but compared with the joys of heaven, light, and but for a moment. The apostle must indeed have been inspired when he formed so sublime a conception of God's presence. " My prayer is, that I may never forget this day's lesson. How have I felt the vanity of all earthly things ! How have I panted to become meet for an eternal inheritance ! How have I desired for myself, my wife, my children, my friends, that we might here be the servants of God, desiring nothing but to do His will ; and that hereafter we might form one band of happy ones redeemed by Christ, and enjoying that blessed country, the least of whose privi- leges is, that ' there they are no more sick.' " I pray Thee, most merciful Father, that the lesson of to-day may not be forgotten, that we may ever retain to-day's sense of the difference between temporal ajul eternal. I pray Thee only make u.s Thy children, and deal with us as Thou wilt. I give my son unto Thy merciful arms; if Thou wilt, dear Saviour Thou canst make him whole ; but Thou knowest best. Thy will be done. If it be possible reserve him for us : oh, how does the flesh desire it; but far, far more do I desire that Thou wouldst keep him and us within Thy fold. Thou didst hear parents' prayers on earth, oh, hear us now ; but again I feel, Thy will be done. I bow with entire confi- (Icncu to Thy decrees; I am sure that Thou wilt do for the best, for never bo much as to-day did I know Thee to be merciful and gracious, and very loving to all Thy creatures." The most lively solicitude and the most sedulous atten- • Mr8 Fry DmBmoiitioiiH liini in her cheerful, industrious, clever, very diary: "JIu was u child wlm in no aKrcc.i>ile, and of a sweet person." — C"nimon dejfreo apiieared to live in (Memoirs, vol. ii. p. 118.) tbo fear and lovo of tbo Lord ; ho was 1830.] LETTER TO HIS SON. 115 tion proved to be alike in vain. Though the progress of the disease was extremely slow, it was unremitting, and the nursing of this beloved child became the engrossing occu- pation of the autumn. The following paper shews that hope had faded away : — "September 19, 1830. " I beseech Thee, God, the Creator of the universe, that Thou vvouldst grant me a much more lively spirit of godliness, as the one thing which sweetens life, soothes its cares and its bitter disappoint- ments, and which cheers me in a path which needs something to cheer it. Blessed Lord, hear my prayers on behalf of my beloved child. Oh, how do I desire, how earnestly do I crave that Thy choicest mercies and the treasures of Thy love may be showered upon him. Give him, as he walks through the valley of the shadow of death, the light of Thy countenance, the support of Thy strength, and the comfort of his heavenly Father's presence. May it please Thee to impart to him, flying fast to heaven, a foretaste of the joys which Thou hast prepared. The time of tribulation and the hour of death are approaching. Oh, be near him and us in those dark seasons ; tell him that Thou art beside him, whisper full consolation in his ear. Let Thy Spirit remind him that he is safe in Thy arms, that nothing can really harm him because Thou art his defender. Unto God's gracious mercy and protection I commit my darling child ; the Lord bless him and keep him, lift up His countenance upon him, and give him peace ; and, blessed Lord, make us par- takers of the same peace. If, as we believe, in passing from death unto life he shall exjierience a blessed change, if he is about to enter into the joy of his Lord, if bright scenes of glory, which the dull eye of man hath not seen, are to be his, if he is to spring from languor, and pain, and weariness of the flesh, to perfect peace and joy; if this be the change that awaits him, and surely it is, then let lis patiently, nay, joyfully, transfer him from the arms of earthly parents into the arms of his Father which is in heaven." Being obliged to go up to London on the day succeeding that on which this prayer is dated, Mr Buxton writes in a more cheerful strain to the young invalid : — "Newmakket, Sejitember 20. " Here I am, my dear Harry, and I will make use of my pen while tea is brewing. I have had a pleasant journey. To be sure, I could not read, for it grew dark about the time we got to Pearson's ; but though I could not read out of a book, I read all the better a sermon out of the stars ; and a noble sermon it was — ' the heavens declare the glory of God ; ' and it ended thus, ' What is man, that thou art mindful of him ? ' One part of the sermon I recollect :— Vanity, vanity, says the Preacher, all is vanity. — Nay, there, Solomon, with all your wisdom, you are wrong ! It may be vanity to pursue plea- sure, to gratify appetite, or to hunt after renown. It may be vanity to buy fine houses, preserve jjheasants, plant trees, acquire an estate with the hiUs from the Lighthouse to Weybourne for a boundary; 116 DEATH OF HIS SON. [^t. 44. but it is not vanity, it is excellent good sense, to serve with the heart and soul, and might and main, the Master and Creator of those heavens ; it is not vanity to conquer evil passions, and stifle unholy repinings ; it is not vanity to be patient and submissive, gentle and cheerful, during a long and weary season of trial ; it is not vanity, in the midst of trials and privations, to spread around a loving and a holy influence, so that the sufierer becomes the teacher and the com- forter; comforting us and teaching us that unsafe we cannot be, while we are in the arms of a most merciful and tender Father.' So said the preacher to whom I was listening, and many other things he said, which I forget at this moment, but I recollect he wound up one paragraph thus — 'Look at that cluster of stars, conceive the power which framed and the wisdom which guides them, and then say, if you can — I am able to improve upon His dispensations; I can change His decrees for the better ; not His will, but mine be done ! ' I will say no more about the sermon, except that the preacher drew a most striking and lucid likeness of Northrepps, painting to the life each member of the family ; so graphic were his touches, that I never felt more strongly what a blessing it is to belong to it. When we had done with the Hall, he sketched the Cottage, and in the gravest manner possible, gave a sly hit or two, which made me smile in the midst of my approval. But now I must conclude. May the God of hope preserve you in all peace ; help, cheer, enUven, strengthen you, and gladden you with the consolations which come from Jesus Christ deal n.ildly and l'i)]mlar Life of George Fox." C. goutly V ith tbo ncgroca, and not to use Giliiiii, 18iy.) 1820.] DECREASE OF SLAVE POPULATION". 1-3 In this way vast funds of information had been collected ; and between the sessions of 1830-31, Mr Buxton ransacked all his stores for evidence relative to the decrease of the slave population. Having completed his calculations, he laid them before the House on the 15th of April. In the commencement of his speech, he assured the House that he had not the slightest feeling of hostility towards the AVest Indian proprietors, nor the slightest disposition to cast reproach upon them ; and he disclaimed any wish to rest his argument on cases of individual atrocity, though abundance of them might be brought forward. He proceeds : — " But, amid the conflicting statements as to the condition of the slaves, it would be extremely desirable to find any fair and unequi- vocal test of their condition. There is such a test — in the rate at which the slave population has increased or decreased. It is a doctrine admitted by all parties, that, under all circumstances, except those of extreme misery, population must increase. Such is the law of nature, and it is conformable to the experience of aU mankind. That law of increase may be interrupted, but it can be interrupted only by causes of extreme misery. " The question, then, is, whether in the fourteen sugar-growing colonies the slave population has increased, has been stationary, or has decreased ? The answer is, it has not increased, it has not been stationary, it has decreased. Not only has it decreased, but it has decreased at a rate so rapid, that I confess it surprises me, and I am sure will astonish the House. In the last ten years the slave popula- tion in those fourteen colonies has decreased by the number of 45,800 persons." * In Tobago, within ten years, one-sixth of the slave popu- lation had perished. In Demerara it had diminished by 12,000, in Trinidad by 6000, within twelve years. "The fact is," he said, " that in Trinidad, as the late Mr Marryat observed, ' the slaves die off like rotten sheep.' " These diminutions were exclusive of manumissions. He then shewed that, while in slavery the numbers of the negroes decreased thus rapidly, in freedom they were doubling. For example, the free black population of De- * In 1835 numerous papers relating They differ in some degree from thoso to the statistics of the colonial depen- on which Mr Buxton founded his dencies of Great Britain were ordered arf:ument, but they give a still greater by the House of Commons to be print- dfcrease. By these tables it appears ed. Among them appeared some thatinthosef^ciYTiislandsthedecreasa tables, which shewed the yearly de- in the number of slaves (exclusively crease of the slave population in eleven of manumissions) had been 60,119. — • West India Islands, during a period of (See Pari. Papers, in the Appendix.) twel ve years previous to emancipation. 124 DECREASE OF SLAVE POPULATION. [^t. 44. nierara had (exclusive of manumissions) been increased by lialf in fourteen years. And the free negroes of Hayti had increased by 520,000 in twenty years, that is, their num- bers had more than doubled : — " Now, sir," lie continued, " if tlie blacks in slavery had increased as the free blacks have increased, the slave population should have added in the last ten years 200,000 to its nunabers; whereas that number has been diminished by 45,000. To keep pari passu with the free blacks, the blacks in slavery should have increased 20,000 a year; whereas they have decreased 4000 a year. They should have increased fifty a-day, whereas they have decreased ten a-day. For this efi'ect, this striking exception to the universal law of nature, there must be a specific cause. It could not occur by accident. "What is the cause ? I will tell the House what it is not. It is not, as it has been affirmed to be, any disproportion between the sexes ; any deficiency in the number of females. In 1814, the number of female slaves exceeded that of males by 5000. The cause, therefore, of this decrease in the slave population, is not any disproportion be- tween the sexes ; it is not war sweeping away its thousands ; it is not climate ; it is not soil. If any one thinks that the last two circumstances may operate injuriously upon the slave population, I ask him why, under the same circumstances, the free black popiila- tion has so much increased? Sir, the real cause is the forced labour in the sugar colonies, and nothing else. The law of nature would be too strong for any other cause. It is too strong for climate — witness Bencoolen. It is too strong for war — witness Africa. It is too strong for savage life — witness the Maroons of Jamaica. It is too strong for vice and misery — witness Hayti. All such impediments yield to the law of nature ; but the law of nature yields to the cultivation of sugar in the sugar colonies. Where the blacks are free, they increase. Climate, soil, war, vice, misery, are too feeble to withstand the current of nature. But let there be a change in only one circumstance; let the population be the same in every respect, only let them be slaves instead of freemen, and the current is immediately stopped. " I hope the resolutions I intend to submit will appear temperate, although in them I declare myself no friend to ameliorating mea- sures, in which I have no faith. I do not think that by such mea- Bures the mortality can be repressed. Besides, sir, I must tell you tliat I lly im- pressed with a Bense of the impropriety, inhumanity, and injustice 1830.] DECREASE OF SLAVE POPULATION. 125 of colonial slavery, this House will proceed to consider of and adopt the best means of effecting its abolition throughout the British dominions." The motion was seconded in an able speech by Lord Morpeth. Lord Althorp stated that, although he could not consent to this motion, he thought it was time "to adopt other measures with the colonists than those of mere recommenda- tions," and that he should propose that a distinction in the rate of duties should be made in favour of those Colonies which should comply with the wishes of Government as to amelioration. After an animated discussion, the debate was adjourned. Mr O'Connell, who throughout gave a steady and energetic support to the anti-slavery cause, came across the House, and said, ''Buxton, I see land." The prognostic was tnie ; for although, owing to the disso- lution of Parliament, the debate was not resumed, and the motion therefore dropped, yet to the argument founded upon the decrease of population may be attributed more than to anything else the speedy downfall of slavery. The force of that argument was well understood in Parliament ; accordingly it was vigorously sifted by the opposite party ; but, having been drawn from the returns of registration sworn to by the planters themselves, it was found impos- sible to shake it. The appalling fact was never denied, that at the time of the abolition of the slave trade, in 1807, the number of slaves in the West Indies was 800,000 : in 1830, it was 700,000. That is to say, in twenty-three years it had dimmished by 100,000. It may here be well to mention, though it be in antici- pation of our history, how fully Mr Buxton's inferences were confirmed by subsequent events. In 1834 emancipa- tion took place, the law of nature resumed its force, the liopulation began to increase, and the census in 1844 proves that in the twelve previous years the black population in fourteen of the islands had increased by 54,000.* The Abolitionists are often blamed for the present want of labour in the West Indies. It should be remembered, * Not more fhan fourteen of the ■would of course have been far greater, islands sent in their returns of popu- especially as Jamaica is not included, lation. Had they been received from — (See Pari. Papers in the Appendix the whole twenty one, the increase to the Svo edition.) 126 BREWERY DINNER. [iEi. 44. however, tliat liad slavery not been abolished, the popula- tion (taking the decrease at its average rate before emanci- ])atiou) would by this time have diminished by much more than 100,000, instead of having increased in the same pro- portion. CHAPTER XVI. 1831. In June 1831, several members of the Government, and other gentlemen, came to look over the Brewery in Spital- fields, and afterwards dined there with Mr Buxton, profes- sedly on beef-steaks, cooked in one of the furnaces. Mr J. J. Gurney gives the following account of the party : — " Earlham, 12 mo. 23d, 1831. . . . . " The Premier, grave and thoughtful as he seemed, did great justice to our dinner. ' Milord Grey,' cried the Spanish Gene- ral Alava to him, as he was availing himself of a fresh supply of beef- steaks (pronounced by the Lord Chancellor to be ' perfect,') — ' MUord Grey, vous etes k votre sixieme.' "The contrast between Lord Grey and Alava was curious; the former, the dignified, stiflf, sedate British nobleman of the old school; the latter, the entertaining, entertained, and voluble foreigner. He had been the faithful companion of the Duke of Wellington through most of his campaigns, and now had displayed his tisual energy by coming up aU the way from Walmer Castle, near Dover, in order to help in devouring the product of the stoke-hole in Spitalfields. " The Lord Chancellor was in high glee : he came in a shabby black coat and very old hat ; strangely different from the starred, gartered, and cocked-hat dignity of the venerable Premier It was my agreeable lot to sit between Lord Grey and Dr Lushington, and the latter being occupied by his friend on the other side, I was left to converse with the Premier, which I had the pleasure of doing for nearly two hours Wo talked of his long political course, and Lord Shaftesbury, who sat next to him, on the other side, complimented him on the subject. " Lord Grey. ' I came into Parliament for Northumberland when I was two-and-twenty, and I have been forty-five years a senator.' Of course it was easy to draw the inference that he was sixty-seven years of age. On my expressing the interest I felt for him, and even syiri]>athy, under the burthen he was bearing, he replied, ' I am much too old for it. I would have refused the undertaking, if I could have done so consistently with my duty.' " Our next subject was parliauLcntary eloquence. I asked him who, amidst the vast variety of orators whom ho had been accus- tomed to hear, appeared to him to bo the best speaker and most able debater. " Lord Grey. ' Beyond all doubt and comparison. Fox. His elo- 1831.] EARL GREY. 127 quence was irresistible. It came from his heart, and produced a corresponding effect on the hearts of his hearers.' " I asked his opinion of Sheridan. The answer was, ' He was very- able, but could not speak without preparation.' " I ventured to insinuate that there was no part of a Premier's office more responsible than that of making bishops. He assented, adding, ' You know I have had none to make at present.' We talked of the Bishop of Norwich.* Lord Grey expressed his admiration of his conduct and character, thougli he only knew him in his public capacity. ' I fear the bishop is too old to accept any offer that I can make him, but I assure you that the very first and best thing that I have to give away shall be at his service.' " This declaration has since been fully verified, by his ofi'ering to the Bishop the see of Dublin, which the latter, as had been antici- pated, refused; observing, in the words of old Erasmus to the Em- peror of Austria, that dignity conferred upon him would be like a burden laid on a falling horse, ' Sarcina equo collabenti imposita.' " When the dimier was ended, I quitted my post by Lord Grey, and joined Buxton, Lord Brougham, and the Duke of Richmond, at the top of the table. Buxton was telling a story on the subject of reform (the only way in which that subject could be mentioned, as the dinner was not political, and Tories were present). ' A stage coachman,' said he, ' was driving a pair of sorry horses, the other day, from London to Greenwich. One of them stumbled, and nearly fell. ' Get up, you horough-mongering rascal, you ! ' said the coach- man to the poor beast, as he laid the whip across his back.' The Chancellor laughed heartily at this story. ' How like my Lord there was the old horse ! ' said he to me, laughing, and putting his hands before his face, — Lord sitting opposite to us. " Buxton now left us, to talk with Lord Grey, whom he very much delighted by praising Lord Howick's speech upon slavery. It was a speech which deserved praise for its honesty and feeling, as well as for its talent. But the old Premier seemed to think that his son had been carried by his zeal rather too far. " Something led us (Lord Brougham and myself) to talk about Paley, and I mentioned the story of his having on his deathbed con- demned his ' Moral Philosophy,' and declared his preference for the ' Horse Paulinse ' above all his other works. This led Brougham to speak of both those works. ' Did you ever hear that King George III. was requested by Mr Pitt to make Paley a bishop ? The King refused; and taking down the ' Moral Philosophy' from the shelf, he shewed Pitt the passage in which he justifies subscription to articles not fully credited, on the ground of expediency. ' This,' said the King, ' is my reason for not making him a bishop.' Lord Grey over- heard the Chancellor's story, and confirmed it ; ' but,' added the Chancellor, ' I believe the true reason why George IIL refused to make Paley a bishop was that he had compared the divine right of kings to the divine right of constables !'.... The Chancellor was very cordial, and we were all delighted with his entertaining rapidity of thought, ready wit, and evident good feeling. Nor was it pos- * Dr Bathurst. 128 BREWERY DINNER. [^t. 45. Bible to be otherwise than pleased with all our guests, with whom we parted, about eleven o'clock at night, after a flowing, exhilarat- ing, and not altogether uninstructive day," Mr Buxton subjoins, — " Our party at the Brewery went off in all respects to my satisfac- tion. Talleyrand could not come, having just received an account of Prince Leopold being elected king of Belgium. Brougham said this was a severe disappointment, as his Excellency never eats or drinks but once a day, and had depended on my beef-steaks. " The party arrived at about six o'clock, and consisted of the Lord Chancellor, Lord Grey, Duke of Richmond, Marquis of Cleveland, Lords Shaftesbury, Sefton, Howick, Durham, and Duncannon, Ge- neral Alava, S. Gumey, Dr Lushington, Spring Rice, W. Brougham, J. J. Gumey, R. Hanbury, &c., twenty-three in all. " I first led them to the steam-engine ; Brougham ascended the steps, and commenced a lecture upon steam-power, and told many entertaining anecdotes ; and when we left the engine he went on lecturing as to the other parts of the machinery, so that Joseph Gur- ney said he understood brewing better than any person on the pre- mises. I had Mr Gow up with his accounts, to explain how much our horses each cost per annum ; and Brougham entered into long calculations upon this subject. To describe the variety of his con- versation is impossible — ' From grave to gay, from lively to severe.' " At dinner I gave but two toasts, ' The King,' and * The memory of George III.,' whose birthday it was. We had no speeches; but conversation flowed, or rather roared like a torrent, at our end of the table. The Chancellor lost not a moment ; he was always eating, drinking, talking, or laughing ; his powers of laughing seemed on a level with his other capacities " Talking of grace before dinner, he said, ' I like the Dutch grace best; they sit perfectly still and quiet for a minute or two. I thought it very solemn.' Again, ' I am a great admirer of the Church ; but tlie clergy have one fault — they grow immortal in this ■world. You cannot think how they trouble me by living so long. I have three upwards of ninety years old; bedridden, bereft of understanding, incapable of enjoyment, and of doing duty ; but they will live, and are keeping men I long to provide for out of their benefices. There's and ; I am waiting for an opportunity of shewing that I do not forget them, but these old gentlemen tliwart ine : surely there is no sin in wishing that they were gathered to tlicir fathers.' " We then talked about the Court of Chancery, and I said, ' I hope to see the day in which you shall bo sitting in your court, and call- ing for the noxt case, and the oflicer of the com-t shall toll you that all the carti'H are oke imder the eH'cct of the impression it liad made upon him. Lord Althorp proposed the amendment of adding 'conformably to the resolutions of 18'2o.' Then came the trial. They (privately) 1832.] THE DIVISION. 137 besought my father to give way, and not to press them to a divi- sion. ' They hated,' they said, ' dividing against him, vphen their hearts were all for him ; it was merely a nominal difference, why should he split hairs ? he was sure to be beaten, where was the use of bringing them all into difficulty, and making them vote against him ? ' He told us that he thought he had a hundred applications of this kind in the course of the evening ; in short, nearly every fiiend he had in the House came to him, and by all considera- tions of reason and friendship besought him to give way. Mr Evans was almost the only person who took the other side. I watched my father with indescribable anxiety seeing the members, one after the other, come and sit down by him, and judging but too well from their gestures, what their errand was. One of them went to him four times, and at last sent up a note to him witii these words, ' immovable as ever ? ' To my uncle Hoare, who was under the gallery, they went repeatedly, but with no success, for he would only send him a message to persevere. My uncle described to me one gentleman, not a member, who was near him, under the gallery, as having been in a high agitation all the evening, exclaim- ing, ' Oh, he won't stand ! Oh, he '11 yield ! I 'd give a hundred pounds, I'd give a thousand pounds, to have him di^'ide! Noble! noble ! What a noble fellow he is ! ' according to the various changes in the aspect of things. Among others, Mr Hume came across to try his eloquence ; 'Now, don't be so obstinate; just put in this one word, " interest ; " it makes no real difference, and then all will be easy. You will only alienate the Government. Now,' said he, 'I'll just tell Lord Althorp you have consented.' My father replied, ' I don't think I exaggerate when I say, I would rather your head were off, and mine too ; I am sure I had rather yours were ! ' What a trial it was. He said afterwards, that he coidd compare it to nothing but a continual tooth-drawing the whole evening. At length he rose to reply, and very touchingly alluded to the effort he had to make, but said, he was bomid in conscience to do it, and that he tvould divide the House. Accord- ingly the question was put. The Speaker said, ' I think the noes have it.' Never shall I forget the tone in which his solitary voice replied, ' No, sir.' ' The noes must go forth,' said the Speaker, and all the House appeared to troop out. Those within were counted, and amounted to ninety. This was a minority far beyond our ex- pectations, and fi-om fifty upwards, my heai-t beat higher at every number. I went round to the other side of the ventilator to see them coming in. How my heart fell, as they reached 88, 89, 90, 91, and the string still not at end; and it went on to 136. So Lord Althorp's amendment was carried. At two o'clock in the morning it was over, and for the first time my father came up to us in the ventilator, I soon saw that it was almost too sore a subject to touch upon; he was so wounded at having vexed all his friends. Mr would not speak to him after it was over, so angry was he ; and for days after when my father came home, he used to mention, with real pain, somebody or other who would not return his bow. On Friday, Dr Lushington came here and cheered him, saying. 138 MR BUXTON'S SPEECH. [^t. 4G. * Well, that minority was a great victory ; ' and this doos seem to be the case ; but we hardly know how to forgive some of those who ought to have swelled its numljers. My father, however, cannot bear to hear them blamed. was wishing that some of those ■who professed so much, and voted against him, might be turned out. ' Oh ! ' he said, ' I would not hui-t a hair of their heads.' He feels it a great cause for thankfulness and encouragement to have a committee sitting to consider the best means of getting rid of slavery. The formation of this committee was the next business, and very difficult indeed it was. My father went many times to Lord Althorp about it. Once Lord Althorp said, 'The fact is, Buxton, the West Indians object, not only to your friends, but to everbody who has any constituents : they won't have anybody out of schedule A.' Lord Howick's name being mentioned. Lord Al- thorp said, ' Why, he 's one of yourselves,' but added, ' we, the Government, the middle party, must be represented in the com- mittee.' My father said, ' Now, laying aside the caution of power, and aU the pledges you have given, do you mean to say you don't agree with me in your heart ? ' He did not deny it." In this debate, as Mr Buxton afterwards said, "the cause made a seven-league stride." One sentence of his speech may be given : — " How is the Government prepared to act in case of a general insurrection of the negroes ? War is to be lamented anywhere, and iiuder any circumstances : but a war against a people struggling for their freedom and their right would be the falsest position in which it is possible for England to be placed. And does the noble lord think that the people out of doors will be content to see their re- sources exhausted for the purpose of crushing the inalienable rights of mankind ? " I will refer the House to the sentiments of Mr Jefferson, the President of the United States. Mr Jefferson was himself a slave- owner, and full of the prejudices of slave-owners ; yet he left this memorable testimony : ' I do, indeed, tremble for my country, when 1 remember that God is just, and that His justice may not sleep for ever. A revolution is among possible events ; the Almighty has no attribute which would side with us in such a struggle.' " This is the point that weighs most heavily with me : ' The Al- mighty has no attribute that will side with us in such a struggle.' A war witli an overwhelming physical force, — a war with a climate fatal to the European constitution, — a war, in which the heart of the people of England would lean toward the enemy ; it is hazard- ing all these terrible evils; but all are light and trivial, compai'ed with the conviction I feel, that in such a warfare it is not possible to ask, nor can wo expect, the countenance of Heaven. I assure the Hou.so I have been discharging a most painful duty, and my endeavour has been to perform it without oil'euce to any one." Mr Buxton writes a few days afterwards to his daugh- ter ; — 1832.] PERSECUTION OF MISSIONARIES. 139 "London, May 31, 1832. " One line, if it be only to say that we are well and happy. I earnestly hope that you are the same. Pray enjoy yourself all you can ; you are entitled to a holiday. " I had a successful though laborious day yesterday. City Com- mittees till ten o'clock ; Secondary Punishments, from one till four; a ride ; Criminal Law from five till eleven ; the motion carried. " To-morrow, the West-Indies Committee meets for the first time. Love to aU your party, and above all to yourself, my daughter, sister, friend, companion, counsellor." Pursuant to the amended resolution, a committee was named, of which Sir James Graham was chairman. Much of the evidence brought before it related to the insurrection of the negroes in Jamaica, which had been followed by proceedings on the part of the colonists, equally deserving the name of insurrection, had they not been perpetrated by the militia, the magistrates, and the gentry of the island. These persons had come to a resolution to maintain slavery, by putting down the religious instruction of the negroes. They accordingly destroyed seventeen chapels,* and in- flicted upon the pastors and their flocks every species of cruelty and insult. " I stake my character," said Mr Buxton, " on the accuracy of the fact, that negroes have been scourged to the very borders of the grave, uncharged with any crime, save that of worshipping their God." He adds, in reference to the unfortunate missionaries, — " There have not been, in our day, such persecutions as these brave and good men have been constrained to endure. Hereafter we must make selections among our missionaries. Is there a man whose timid or tender spirit is unequal to the storm of persecution ? Send him to the savage — expose him to the cannibal — save his life by directing his steps to the rude haunts of the barbarian. But if there is a man of a stiffer, sterner nature, a man willing to encounter obloquy, torture, and death, let him be reserved for the tender mer- cies of our Christian brethren and fellow-countrymen, the planters of Jamaica. "+ The more obnoxious missionaries, particularly Messrs Knibb and Burchell, were driven from the island, and ar- rived in England at the very juncture when their evidence before the committees was of the utmost value, and went forth to the country under parliamentary sanction. They then travelled through England and Scotland, holding meetings in all the principal towns, and their eloquent ap- * See report of the Committee, p. 270. t Anti-Slavery Reporter, vol. v p. 149. UO EFFECT OF DEBATE ON GOVERNMENT, [^t. 46. peals produced a great effect upon tlie public mind. No- thing, in fact, contributed more powerfully to arouse the " religious world " to a sense of their duty with regard to the question of slavery. Mr Buxton frequently adverted to the overruling hand of Providence, which had thus turned the intolerance of the system to its own destruction. The investigations of the committees of both Houses were published together, and the general impression was that they had established two points : First, that slavery was an evil for which there was no remedy but extirpation; secondly, that its extirpation would be safe. The nation willingly acceded to these conclusions, and impatiently desired to act upon them. How they affected the minds of those in office we shall presently learn. Such was the state of the slavery question when the ses- sion closed ; and Mr Buxton returned with his family to Northrepps. Durmg a short visit to London, in September, he thus vn-ites to his daughter : — " Spitalfields, September 27, 1832. " I saw T. B. Macaulay yesterday : he told me one thing, which has much occupied my mind ever since, and which furnished the subject-matter of my meditations as I rode by the hght of the stars to Upton last night. He said, ' You know how entirely everybody disapproved of your course in your motion, and thought you very wrong, very hard-hearted, and very headstrong; but two or three days after the debate. Lord Althorp said to me, " That division of Buxton s has settled the slavery question. If he can get ninety to vote with him when he is wrong, and when most of those really interested in the subject vote against him, he can command a majority tvhcu he u right. The question is settled : the Government see it, and they will take it up." ' So reported Macaulay; and he added, ' Sir James (Jraham told me yesterday that the Government meet in a week ; they will then divide themselves into committees on tlie three or four leading questions, for the purpose of settling them. Slavery is one.' Now it is not so much the fact that Govermnent are going to take into their own hands the question for the purpose of settling it which occui)ied my mind, as the consideration of the mode by which we were led to that division, to which such imjiortant consequences attach. It certainly was not the wisdom of my coadjutors ; for, with the exception of my own family, Hoare, Evans, Johnston, and one or two others, tlicy were all directly at variance with me. Brougham, when ho heard of my obstinacy, said, ' Is the man mad? does he in- tend to act without means? He must give way.' It really was not the windom of my counsellors, and as certainly it was not either my own wisdom or rtssohition. I felt, it is true, clear that 1 was right; but I did not find it easy to explain the reason why I was so clear. 1832.] ATTACK ON MR BUXTOK Ul " Then as to the resolution, I found it very difficult to stand firm. I felt far more distressed than I ought to have done, at acting in hostility to my friends. I was unusually weak on that point. What, then, led to the division? If ever there was a subject which occu- pied our prayers, it was this. Do you remember how we desired that God would give me His Spirit in that emergency, that He would lise up as the champion of the oj^pressed ? How we quoted the promise, ' He that lacketh wisdom, let him ask it of the Lord, and it shall be given him ? ' And how I kept open that passage in the Old Testament, in which it is said, (2 Chron. chap. xx. 12,) ' We have no might against this great comjjany that cometh against us : neither know we what to do, but our eyes are upon thee ; ' the Spirit of the Lord replying, ' Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God's.' If you want to see the passage, open my Bible ; it will turn of itself to the place. I sincerely believe that prayer was the cause of that division ; and I am confirmed in this, by knowing that we by no means calculated on the effect which that division seems likely to produce. The course we took appeared to be right, and we followed it blindly." It was not only from liis antagonists that Mr Buxton encountered opposition ; the storm at times was almost as fierce from those who were as ardent as himself in the cause of emancipation. On the eve of the election of 1832, he suggested, in a letter to Sir George Chetwynd, that the pledge to be asked from candidates at elections should be, that they would aim at " the extinction of slavery, at the earliest period compatible with the safety of all classes." This last condition was unacceptable to one section of the anti-slavery party, whose zeal could no longer brook any degree of moderation. The following burst of " indignant astonishment " was from the pen of one of these impetuous advocates : — " I have long condemned the advocates of emancipation, because they have not sought the deliverance of the slave till it suited the convenience of his oppressor to let him go free To be candid, sir, I would rather see you throw up your brief, and take a retain- ing fee from the planters, than that you should, in a reformed Par- liament, bring forward a motion in accordance with the sentiments expressed in your letter to Sir G. Chetwynd. And if you appear as the advocate of such a profane measure, we will look to some more enlightened advocate to forward that cause which must be carried." Mr Buxton's reply was as follows : — "NoRTHREPPS, October 15, 1832. " Dear Sir, — I am so thoroughly inured to expressions of the strongest condemnation from all sides, as to my course with regard to slavery, that I should scarcely be prevailed on to notice those I have received from you, were it not that I like the spirit which die- 142 NOTICE OF MOTION. [JEt. 46. tates them, and should be glad if it were more general. Without therefore noticing the violence of your expressions, or questioning their propriety towards one who, however imworthy and unsuccess- ful, has certainly been for many years almost wholly devoted to this cause, let me attempt to justify the letter to which you refer. I said to Sir George Chetwynd, as I have said on every other occasion, and as the words of my motion expressed, that my aim was ' eman- cipation, at the earliest period compatible with the personal safety of aU classes.' Where did you find a word of ' convenience ? ' How little do you know the heavy battles I have had to fight on this very point. If the emancipation of the slaves were in my power, I could not dare to accomplish it without previous police regulations, which is all the delay I mean. These ought to be undertaken instantly ; for I know our power of emancipating in one way or another is fast drawing to a close : I mean that the negroes will take the work into their own hands. But whoever else is willing to undertake the weight of so enormous a responsibility, / am not, without consider- ing the personal safety of all classes. If you, my dear sir, can send some ' more enlightened advocate,' you may believe me, that we are far too much oppressed and borne down with the weight of our task in Parliament, not to hail his assistance, however given. But, in the meantime, I must take the liberty of saying that I did not under- take this serious work at man's bidding ; nor shall I, I trust, lay it down at the bidding either of enemies or friends. " With every good wish, and begging you to continue your exer- tions, and to blame me as much as you please, if it will stir up one of our friends, I am, dear Sir, yours, very truly, " T. FowELL Buxton." CHAPTER XVIII. 1833. Mr Buxton went down to the House of Lords, on the 5th of February 1833, in full expectation of hearing from the King's speech that one of the great measures of the session was to be the emancipation of the slaves. Great was his disappointment when the speech closed without any allusion whatever to the subject. He hastened back to the House of Commons, and immediately on the Speaker's return gave notice of a motion, on the 19th of March, for the abolition of slavery. A few minutes afterwards, one of his friends hurried up to him, and said, " I have just been with lirougham and (Jodcricli, and they conjure you to do nothing lia.stily ; you will wreck the cause if you do." " What ! not give notice of a motion ] " said he. " Oh, no ! by no means," was the reply; " you will knock the whole 1833.] ANXIETY AS TO THE RESULT, 143 thing over." ^' But it's done 1''^ said Mr Buxton. This prompt proceeding had an immediate effect on the ministers. He writes two days later to Mr Joseph John Gurney : — "London, February 1, 1833. " You may suppose that I was affronted and vexed at the silence of the King's speech. I instantly gave notice of a motion, and last night, as you will see by the papers, I asked the Government what their intentions were. They replied, that they would undertake the question, and introduce ' a safe and satisfactory measure.' I feel ex- cessively relieved and deUghted, and not a little thankful for this great mercy." A government must have been short-sighted indeed, which could have hoped to keep clear of this great question. Public feeling had been of late gathering with prodigious rapidity, and a crisis was evidently near. The outcry against slavery seemed to be rising at once from every cor- ner of the land. Men of all ranks, of all denominations, were joining in the attack : and the House itself, where but a few years before scarcely half-a-dozen hearty advocates for emancipation could have been numbered, was now filled with zealous friends of the cause. But, while Mr Buxton was quite wUling to give up the conduct of the case to the ministers, he did not cease to watch their proceedings with the utmost vigilance. Hopes and fears alternated as to the nature and extent of the measures that were to be expected from them, and as the time advanced, he became more and more uneasy. He had consented to abstain from making his motion on the 19tli of March, on the condition that the ministers would themselves bring in " a safe and satisfactory mea- sure ; " but some weeks had now elapsed, and stUl not one word had been said publicly as to their intention of fulfil- ling their pledge. They had named no day for a motion ; they had ofiicially announced no plan ; and rumours got abroad that there were divisions in the camp, that the Go- vernment collectively had by no means decided on adopting the vigorous steps which some of its members proposed. From ten years' experience, Mr Buxton had but too well learnt the immense weight of the West Indian party in the councils of the nation. He knew also that the Government had the questions of finance, India, and the Church to grapple with during this session, and were probably not so 144 NEGOTIATIONS WITH GOVERNMENT. r^T. 47. impressed as himself witli the extreme danger of dela}dng the emancipation of the slaves. He coidd not, therefore, but feel it a cause for alarm that, notwithstanding Lord Althorp's promise of a safe and satisfactory measure, so long a period should have elapsed without the appearance of any measure at all. " He is much depressed, because the mini- sters do not name a day ; he does not know whether or not to execute his threat of bringing his motion forward next Tuesday ; for this he is almost unprepared : and besides, they promise so well that it seems doubtful whether it wovdd be right or politic to go to war with them. He sleeps badly and is very anxious."* Since the ministers were thus overwhelmed with busi- ness, and fettered by their relations with the West Indian proprietors, it may naturally be asked, why did he leave the question in their hands 1 Backed by such a band of followers, why did he not wield all his powers, and drive forward the measure with his own handl It was because he believed that while emancipation in the end was certain, it was only as a cabinet measure that it could be carried through during this session ; and delay, fraught as it might be with servile revolt, was the one thing that he most dreaded. He contented himself, therefore, with spurring on the Government, resolving not to take the lead unless compelled to do so. Nothing drew such notice from his friends as the indifference he evinced as to any personal credit to himself " It is surprising," writes one of them, " how he puts himself entirely out of the question. It does not seem to excite one feeling in his mind, whether, after all his toils, he is to appear in the matter or not. He seems to care for nothing, but the advancement of the c?.:ise." His whole heart and soul, in fact, were given up to the work, and the depth and intensity of his feelings were visible in all his deportment ; he looked pale and careworn, and his tall figure began to shew signs of stooping. He spoke little, and was continually engrossed in tliought. His demeanour could not be more exactly [)ortraycd, than by Spenser's lines : — " But Httlo joyo had lio to talko of ought, f )r ouKht to hearo that inoto delightful be ; HiH mind was Bolo iiossessod of oiio thought That gavo none othor place." • Letter ti^ Northroiips Cottage, March 16. 1833.] AGITATION RESOLVED OK 145 Incessant efforts had now to be made by Mr Buxton, be- fore tlie Government would really address themselves to the question. They were resolved, if possible, to defer it si7ie die. In fact. Lord Al thorp told him " they really were ob- liged to do so, they were in such a strait." But Mr Bux- ton was resolute, and pushed them so hard, that at last they fdrly pledged themselves to bring the matter forward. When the day for the motion had been announced by Government, Mr Buxton sank for a while into a feeling of profound repose. He was able to sleep at night, and began to resume his cheerfulness of manner. He thought that as the Government had been prevented from delaying the question, the grand point was gained ; and that it only re- mained for him and his friends to await the unfolding of their measure. " I have no more to do with slavery now than any other gentleman," was an expression frequently on his lips, during that inten^al of rest. But he soon found that he had been too sanguine ; at the end of a few days fresh causes of anxiety began to arise. To his dismay, he heard a rumour that Lord Howick, on the soundness of whose principles he thoroughly relied, was about to resign his place, on the ground that the Cabinet refused to concur in his scheme of immediate emancipation. Afterwards he learned that the Government were inclined to make the negroes buy out their own freedom. The details of the measure Mr Buxton could not learn, but the process was sure to be dilatory, and was on the face of it unjust. Full of chagrin and disappointment, he hurried to Dr Lushing- ton. They agreed to call a special committee of the Anti- slavery Society on the following day, and he then went home, " looking as if some heavy misfortune had befallen him." The next day, the heads of the party met to deli- berate on this new turn of affairs. Their opinion as to the course they should pursue was unanimous. The higher powers were clearly about to fail them ; the nation was firmly on their side : why not, then, place the matter in the nation's hands? Having resolved to arouse the people, they spared no pains to do so with effect ; and, in this endeavour, a most opportune aid was afforded them. Just at the time when they were anxious to call forth a burst of public feeling, 146 WHITELY'S PAMPHLET. [^t. 47. Mr Buxton being one morning at breakfast, surrounded as usual by papers, and deep in discussion Avith Mr George Stephen, a young man named Whitely was brought in and introduced to him by ilr Pringle, as a book-keeper who had just returned from the West Indies. He told what he had seen, a tale of cruelty and suffering such as Mr Buxton had heard a hundred times before. The young man took his leave ; but scarcely was he gone, when the thought struck Mr Buxton, that such a picture fresh from the spot was the very thing they needed. He ran into the street without his hat, caught Whitely as he turned the corner into Portland Place, and having brought him back, told him that he absolutely must put down this story in writing, and must also produce certificates as to his own character. These certificates proved to be highly satisfactory, and in a few days the pamphlet was in print.* The effect was prodigious. The narrative, written in a homely but graphic style, realised to the mhid of every one the real import of what he had previously heard, as to the dwindling of the population and the terrors of the lash. Truth, too, was stamped on every word. It contained in- deed nothing new, but in reading Whitely's simple narrative of the common incidents of a sugar plantation, the whole scene appeared to stand before the eye. The driver looking on with lazy indifference — the piercing cries and supplica- tions of the miserable negro woman brought out and tied down upon the ground to receive her punishment — the crack of the fearful cart-whip, and the shriek of agony as it cut deep into the flesh — appalling as the description was, yet no man could deny its truth. In four colonics, and these the best ordered, the planters had themselves sworn to the infliction of sixty-eight thousand punishments in two years. And let any man say how they could be inflicted, without these circumstances of horrible suffering and degra- dation. The pamphlet spread abroad with wonderful rapidity. "Whitely," says a letter to Northrepps, "nothing but Whitely, is the order of the day ; the sensation it creates is immense ; tlio printers can scarcely supply the demand. • "Tlirco MimtliH in J.-iiimica;" by ITcnry Wliitcly The certificates are given at the end of tlie iiiuiii)lilot. 1833.] COMPENSATION". 147 !Mr Pringle says ten thousand have been ordered to-day." In short, within a fortnight's time, nearly two hundred thousand copies were scattered abroad. Eager as the leaders were to urge the Government for- ward, by turning upon them a strong pressure of popular opinion, they were at the same time most anxious to pre- serve their alliance, and keep them in the front of the movement, by every allowable concession. And the first concession which the Government required, was the concur- rence of the Abolitionists in granting compensation to the planters. On this question the opinions held by the anti-sla very- leaders were not those of the mam body of their followers. The former maintained that neither law nor custom could give one man a real claim to the possession of another ; and, therefore, they could not admit that the planters had any moral right to compensation. On the other hand, they were both willing and desirous to give compensation, first, because they thought that a bonus to the planters was the best if not the only way of obtaining emancipation with safety to all parties ; secondly, because they heartily desired that, while the negroes were set at liberty, the planters should not be exposed to a ruinous loss. But the greater number of their followers did not comprehend the real position of affairs. They were not aware of the relative strength of the three parties in Parhament, nor did they perceive that, unless a junction were efiected with the Government, success could not be insured against the West Indians. Carried away by their anxiety to do justice to the negi'o, they deemed all compromise, and all concession to his owner, a dereliction of principle ; nor could they endure the idea of striking a bargain with the oppressor. It is likely, also, that, in the minds of many, a feeling of personal hostility towards the planters had grown up during the long con- tinuance of the contest. Mr Buxton, therefore, and his more temperate coadjutors, had now to undertake that task which has so frequently dethroned the leaders of a popular movement — that of teaching their followers to rein in their zeal. It was determined that the idea of acquiescing in some 14:8 THE NATION AROUSED. [^Et. 47 system of compensation should be broacheJ to the Anti- slavery Society at its approaching annual meeting. This meeting was held on the 2d of April ; Lord Suffield was in the chair, whUe Mr Buxton undertook the delicate task of introducing the proposal. His friends listened with extreme anxiety as he commenced his speech ; for a time he seemed to hover about the sub- ject, as if shrmking from his task ; but at length he grappled boldly with it, and his appeal was met with apparently imanimous applause. He was ably followed by Dr Lush- ington, Mr Joseph J. Gurney, and others ; and their exer- tions appeared to be crowned with unexpected success. But nothing can be more transient than such triumphs of oratory, which can only withdraw a party for an instant from its natural career. Smooth as the beginning seemed, at this point commenced divisions in the ranks of the Aboli- tionists, and the seeds of discord were sown, which bore frait in due season, though happily too late to be of injury to the cause. Nor was solicitude confined to Mr Buxton and his friends. The Government had their full share of anxiety. Indeed Mr Stanley's position, in the midst of so many conflicting interests, was one of great difficulty, and he found it neces- saiy to postpone his motion till the 14th of May. Now, therefore, when fuU success might be gained by a vigorous effort, or lost if that effort were not made, now was the time to bring every force to bear, and to sweep away all obstacles by an irresistible impetus of pubhc feeling. This was the moment to make the Government feel to what a pitch the hatred of slavery had risen. Nor was it difficult. The meeting in Exeter Hall and the publication of Whitcly's pamplilet had led the way. These first steps were followed up by the most vigorous proceedings, under the direction chiefly of Mr George Stephen and Mr Pringle, whose services were of essential value at this critical juncture. Lectures were delivered hi all the counties of the kingdom. Crowded meetings were everywhere held, and the friends of the cause bestirred themselves from one end of the country to the other. Tlie ncwsiiapers and periodicals caught the enthu- siasm. 'J'he cause of mercy seemed the cause of religion, and many of the clergy and dissenting ministers did not 1833.] DELEGATES SUMMONED. 149 hesitate to urge upon their flocks the sinfulness of slavery, and the righteousness of joining heart and hand for its over- throw. The flame soon spread far and wide ; from every corner of the land petitions poured in, breathing the earnest desires of the people ; from Devonshire came five hundred, from West Essex three hundred ; the number of signatures attached to the petitions presented this session were calcu- lated to amount to nearly a million and a half; and just at this moment, when the ferment was highest, a step was taken which gave double effect to all the previous proceed- ings. A circular was addressed by the committee to the friends of the cause in every considerable town, requesting them to appoint delegates, who were to meet in London on the 18th of the month, to represent in person the wishes of the nation. Mr Buxton had been, with Mr James Stephen, spending a few of these eventful days in a delightful, and as it proved, a farewell visit to Mr Wilberforce, at his son's house at East Farleigh ; but when the day for the assembling of the delegates drew near, he returned to town, and again plunged into the whirlpool of affairs. During the heat of the con- flict, the rush of business at his house was incessant. As he usually returned late from the House, and slept very badly, he was rarely down in the morning till ten or eleven o'clock, and long before he had finished dressing the appli- cants for admission began to pour in. To him, as the anti- slavery leader, every one who had any connexion with the ixtmost border of the subject felt at liberty to apply. Be- sides his London coadjutors in the cause, he was often visited by those who had been active in promoting it in the country, and who wished for his advice or encouragement. Then there were people from the West Indies, teeming with complaints, arguments, and information — some come in the hope of convincing him by their individual experience, that he was all in the wrong ; some to confirm his impression that he was all in the right ; angry planters come to expostu- late ; missionaries, teachers, and negroes come to lay their cases before him, or to supply him with intelligence. His house, which had before been a kind of depot of anti-slavery petitions, was now half filled with them ; in every corner they lay in heaps, with letters and papers from all parts 150 MEETING OF THE DELEGATES. [^t. 47. of England. Anxious consultations were going on among the leaders of the party in London. The call for delegates had been answered to an unexpected extent ; and the ques- tion now arose how most prudently and effectively to wield the force about to join them. Nor was the moment unat- tended with anxiety. It was very doubtful whether so many earnest advocates could be brought to act in concert ; each had his own conscientious scruples, and what can be more wayward than the conscience of a scrupulous English- man ? " People's principles are the greatest nuisances in life," playfully exclaimed Mr Buxton, when he returned from the first meeting of 330 delegates in Exeter Hall. It was an occasion which called forth all his tact and powers of argument; but the delegates, strong and independent as their views were, placed a generous confidence in their leaders, and a sufiicient degree of unanimity was at length obtained. It was necessary to frame an address to the Premier which should embody their sentiments. This difficult task fell to the lot of Mr J. J. Guniey, and the paper which he l^repared received a cordial assent. On the ensuing day they met again in Exeter Hall, and proceeded in a body to Downing Street. Drawn as they had been from almost every place of note in the United Kingdom, they included in their ranks men of every calling and denomination ; among them were to be seen, we are told, " merchants, squires, bankers, magistrates, clergymen, and dissenting ministers." Lord Althoq) and Mr Stanley received them ; and after Mr Samuel Gurney had read the address and commented on it, Mr Buxton stepped forward and pointed out the extent of the movement which had sent the dele- gates thither. It cannot be doubted that this manifestation had a great effect on the Government ; it was the first occasion on which- public feeling so emj)hatically expressed itself, and it was felt to be called forth by no ordinary earnestness of purpose. Mr Stanley afterwards acknowledged its importance, but, at the time, he gave no further pledge than that he would not again postpone his motion. 1833.] WOMEN'S PETITION. 151 CHAPTER XIX. The Government plan was now expected with the utmost anxiety. In the interval Mr Buxton, who stood much in need of rest and quiet, retreated with his daughters to a fishing cottage at Dagenham Breach, near the Thames, belonging to Mr Fry. This could be reached only by water, and afforded the most perfect seclusion. " We trust," writes one of the party, " not to see the face of a visitor, nor the direction of a letter, till Monday the 13th." Dr Lushington remained in town, to watch the progress of affairs. Many contradictory reports were afloat, and Mr Buxton's brief holiday was spent in deep meditation on the course he should pursue. His eldest daughter thus writes from Dagenham : — "SaturdciT/, May 11, 1833. " Here we are in our singular retirement, living out of doors on the rich bank, which is overflowing with grass and flowers, and watching the hundreds of fine ships, which from here seem to float among the fields ; but when we climb the bank, there lies the river stretched out — its lovely reaches glittering in the sun. We have tasted some real enjoyment in the exuberance of spring in this jjlace, but far more in seeing my dear father wandering about without his hat for hours together. He has, I fear, been reflecting too deeply during these walks. A set of harassing letters came from London yesterday, which immediately gave him a sharp headache." At last the 14th of May arrived. Mr Buxton afterwards told his daughter, that just as they were going off to the House on that memorable evening — perhaps the most me- morable of his life — he had reached his study door, when he went back to have one look at his Bible. He opened it on the fifty-eighth chapter of Isaiah, and read those two verses, " If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul ; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as noon-day : and the Lord shall guide thee continually," &c. " The remembrance of them pre- served me," he said, " from being in the least anxious the whole evening ; I felt so sure the promise would be fulfilled to me, ' The Lord shall guide thee continually.' " The proceedings of the evening commenced with the presentation of a huge petition from the females of Great Britain. The scene is thus described in the Mirror of Par- liament : — M 152 MR STANLEY'S SPEECH. [^t. 47. " Mr Fowell Buxton, on presenting the petition from the females of Great Britain, said, ' Ten days ago, this petition was not pre- pared; it was not even in contemplation; but within that short period, without any solicitation whatever, it has received from all parts of the country through which it has been circulated, no less than 187,000 signatures. I wish to consult you, sir, as to the man- ner in which I am to get it to the table, for it is so heavy that I really am unable to carry it.' " The Speaker. — ' If the hon. gentleman cannot bring up the petition himself, he must procure the assistance of some other mem- bers of the House.' " Three hon. members then went out with Mr Buxton, and by the united exertions of the four, the petition was brought in and placed upon the table " (as we are told elsewhere), " amidst the laughter and cheers of the House." Mr Stanley then opened the debate. He had been Colo- nial Secretary little more than a month, yet he shewed that, vast as the subject was, he had, in that short time, com- pletely mastered its details, had become conversant with all its dangers and difficulties, and was prepared to settle it for ever. He began by noticmg the depth and extent of pub- lic feeling upon the question of slavery, and that this feeling had its source in religious principle. " There is," he said, " throughout the country, from one end of it to the other, a determination, a determination the more absolute and irresistible, because it is founded in that deep religious feeling, on that solemn conviction of principle, which admits of no paUiative or compromise, and which has declared itself in a voice to which no minister can be deaf, and which no man who watches the signs of the times can misunderstand." He then entered into the history of the case, pointing out how confidently Parliament had looked for the co-ope- ration of the colonial legislatures, and that in these expecta- tions " the country had been grievously disappointed." " The voice," he said, " of friendly warning — the voice of authority, has been found to be in vain. Not a single step lias been taken by any one of the colonial legislatures with a view to the extinction of negro slavery." After asserting the right of the mother country to legis- late for the colonics, he proceeded to shew that the dis- tresses of the colonists were not owing " to the unceasing efforts of tlie abolitionists," and the discussion of the sla- very question in Parliament ; and he read documents to prove that those distresses existed to the same extent, not 1S33.] PROVISIONS OF THE BILL. 153 only before slavery was discussed, but even in the days of the slave trade. He then entered forcibly into the arguments founded on the rapid decrease of population, and the immense amount of punishments with the whip, proving the pregnant and dreadful fact, that as the popiilation diminished the number of stripes increased. Up to this point Mr Buxton and Dr Lushington had been listening to the speech with satisfaction and delight. The very principles, the very facts, the very arguments which tlaey had for years been endeavouring to impress upon the House, they had now heard enforced from the Treasury bench, with the splendid eloquence of Mr Stan- ley. But when Mr Stanley turned from the general princi- ples on which he proposed to act, to his scheme for their application, the feelings of the advocates of the negro underwent a painful change. His plan contained the following main propositions, — some good, some, as they conceived, fraught with evil : — That slavery be abolished throughout the British do- minions. But that the present slaves should be apprenticed for a certain period of time to their former owners ; that is, should be bound to labour for their former masters during three-fourths of the day, the masters in return supplying them with food and clothing. Part of the slave's value would be secured in this way to his former owner. The remainder was to be paid by England in the shape of a loan of £15,000,000 sterling (afterwards changed to a gift of twenty millions.) AU children under six years old were to be at once set completely free. Stipendiary magistrates were to be ap- pointed to carry out these measures, and provision was to be made for the religious and moral training of the negro population. The negro was to be liable to corporal punishment, if he refused to give his due portion of labour. When Mr Stanley had announced the resolutions of which these were the leading features, their further discussion was adjourned to the 30th of 'May. 154 APPRENTICESHIP. [^t. 47. Upon the wliole, Mr Buxton was satisfied with the result of the evening, for although some of the proposed arrange- ments were utterly distasteful to him, he looked forward to great modifications of the obnoxious clauses during the progress of the bill through Parliament. According to his invariable practice, he laid the matter before God in fre- quent and earnest prayer. The following was the substance of his supplications at family prayers, on the second morning after the announce- ment of the Government measure : — " We beseech Thee, Lord, to be Thyself the champion of the captives ; their champion, yet not the avenger of their sufferings. We pray Thee so to assist this great work, that it may be the means of spreading temporal peace, ease, and industry among the negroes, and of leading them spiritually to the knowledge of God, that by it millions may be brought into Thy happy fold. And for those who have laboured in this good and great work, may their reward be in the outpouring of Thy Spirit ; may they live in Thy light, and may their darkness be removed for ever ; may the Lord guide them con- tinually ; may their soul be like a watered garden, and may they be satisfied in drought. Bless the country that shall make this amaz- ing sacrifice. " And now I desire to return thanks imto Thee, Lord, for the great mercies Thou hast shewn us; that thou hast turned the hearts of those who have influence and power, and made them to be labourers in the cause of the oppressed. We thank Thee, that Thou at length hast shewn Thine own power and come forth." The discussion of the resolutions occupied the House till the 12th of June. At this point the grand object of the anti-slavery leaders was to see the Government and Parlia- ment fully committed to the measure. " For," said Mr Buxton, " were an amendment on this plan to be moved and carried, and we were in consequence to lose this mea- sure altogether, an insurrection would inevitably take place, and I confess I cannot with firmness contemplate so horrible a termination of slavery." Therefore, while protesting against the apprenticeship, they abstained from dividing the House upon it till the principle of the bill had been admitted. They also acquiesced in the grant of compensa- tion to the planters. On the clause relating to the moral and religious instruction of the negroes — " I shall move," said Mr Buxton, "as an amendment, the words which have been used by tlio right hoii. Secretary in his speech, uaaiely, that the system of instruction shall bo conducted, not on 1833.] POLICY OF THE LEADERS. 155 exclusive, not on intolerant, but on 'liberal and compreliensive jjrinciples.' I am the more anxious on this point, as I know on the one hand, the extreme animosity of the colonists to all religious teachers of their slaves, except those of the Church of England, while on the other, I know the vast benefits which the dissenting missionaries have imparted, and are likely to impart to the negro population. I think a system of perfect and unbounded toleration ought to prevail in the West Indies, as in England." But the main features of the plan were, " apprenticeship for the negro," and " compensation to the planters ; " and these were so extremely obnoxious to the more vehement abolitionists, that Mr Buxton was most severely blamed for having acquiesced in the principle of a measure of which these formed an essential part. He should, they said, have at once gone to war with the Government. But his own deliberate opinion was, that if this measure were re- fused, no other would be obtained ; and, therefore, he was most anxious to modify rather than to reject it. Dr Lush- ington took the same view, and by degrees they had the satisfaction of finding that all their original coadjutors acquiesced in its prudence. But the anti-slavery movement was outstripping its leaders. In so large and zealous a body as that which now followed them, there could not but be many so earnestly bent on the success of their cause, as to be unable to heed the obstacles which still blocked the way, and who, "Forgetting That policy, expecting not clear gain, Deals ever in alternatives," * looked with extreme jealousy on the slightest concessions made by their chiefs. And thus the party quickly fell into two sections, one of which was ready to make any reason- able sacrifice in order to attain success, while the other firmly opposed all compromise, looking on it as a breach of principle. This latter section, dissatisfied with the moderate counsels of the original committee, had already established another of its own, under the name of the " Agency Committee," which severely condemned Mr Bux- ton for being willing to acknowledge the claims of the West Indian party. In the midst of these attacks it was most cheering to JMr * "Philip Van Ai'tevelde." 156 MR STANLEY'S BILL BROUGHT IN. [^t. 47. Buxton to receive assurances of sympathy and approbation from those veterans of the cause, whose opinions he most highly vakied. Mr WUberforce thus expresses himself to Mr W. Smith : — "Bath, June 25, 1833. " I have but one moment to-day at my command, but I cannot bear to remain silent when your letter touches a string which vibrates in my inmost soul. I feel more indignant than I can well express, at the unworthy treatment dear honest Buxton has ex- perienced. Even had he been mistaken in his judgment, yet, know- ing the purity of his motives, and the zeal, and the anxiety, and the labour which he has been experiencing, any liberal man would have taken him to his bosom, and endeavoured to cheer and to comfort him. I entirely concur with you as to our true policy." One of the letters to Northrepps Cottage, says : — " The career of victory has been mixed with many personal humiliations and mortifications; and now the anti-slavery people are so violently tm-ned against my father for not voting against the twenty milHons, that they can hardly find words to express their displeasure. I must say, that his spirit through all is wonderful. He is as uninfluenced by the attacks of friends as of foes, and goes straight on to his mark with a degree of firmness, which, considering it is unaided by that very supporting quality, natural obstinacy, Beems almost incomprehensible. " Every day he receives violent letters of censure, from one party for voting for the money, from another for saying the planters have no right to it ; but he is under such a deep and powerful impulse for the good of his cause, that nothing else touches him. He seems to be devoted to it in a way that renders him insensible to minor influences, and reminds one of the description of Howard, in Foster's essay on Decision of Character. Self is strangely forgotten by Lini; not subdued or resisted, but genuinely forgotten." When Mr Stanley's bill was brought in, Mr Buxton was disappointed to find that it retained the obnoxious points in full force. He writes : — "London, Juhj 6, 1833. " I do not think our slavery matters are going on very well. The Government are going to bring in their bill to-night. It retains the apprenticeship for twelve years, which makes me very indignant, mil would make me very unhappy, if I did not indulge the hope, that wo shall bo able to beat them out of it in committee." According to tliat plan of operations which had excited 80 much angry feeling, Mr Stanley's bill was allowed to pass througli the secontl reading un(lisj)uted, but no sooner had it come under coniinittcc than the l)attle began. The lir.st and most important struggle was on the dura- 1833.] DEBATE ON COMPENSATION. 157 tion of tte apprenticeship.* Mr Buxton moved an amend- ment for limiting it to the shortest period necessary for establishing the system of free labour, and suggested the term of one year ; " for," he said, " if we are to have neither wages nor the whip, neither hope nor fear, neither induce- ment nor compulsion, how any one can suppose that we shall be able to obtain the labour of the negToes, is to me unintelligible." After a spirited debate the amendment was lost, though only by a minority of seven ; but, as Lord Howick observed, the first fruits of the discussion were gathered the next day, when Mr Stanley consented, in deference to the wishes of the House, to reduce the period of apprenticeship from twelve to seven years. In the course of the debate on the 24th inst, Mr Stanley "warned his honourable friend (the member for Wey- mouth), that any expression falling from him would come upon the minds of the negroes with much greater weight than any similar expression coming from any other person," In his reply, Mr Buxton said : — " The right hon. gentleman has done me the honour to say that the language which I hold towards the negroes may have some in- fluence upon them. If I thought that were the case — if indeed the faintest echo of my voice could ever reach them — most earnestly, most emphatically, would I implore them, by every motive of duty, gratitude, and self-interest, to do their part towards the peaceful termination of their bondage. I would say to them, ' The time of your deliverance is at hand, let that period be sacred, let it be de- filed by no outrage, let it be stained by no blood, let not the hair of a single planter be touched. Make any sacrifice, bear any indignity, submit to any privation, rather than raise your hand against any white man. Continue to wait and to work patiently ; trust impli- citly to that great nation and paternal Government, who are labour- ing for your release. Preserve peace and order to the utmost of yx)ur power — obey the laws, both before and at the time of your Hbera- tion — and when that period shall arrive, fulfil the expectations of your friends in England, and the promises they have made in your name, by the most orderly, diligent, and dutiful conduct ! ' " In the division which followed, !Mr Buxton voted for the grant of £20,000,000 to the planters,1 " as giving the best * July 24. See Mirror of Parliament slowly rising off the sofa, and speak- for the course of the Slavery Bill. ing witli great deliberation. " No : I t The following afternoon his sister, would do tlie same again. I did it to Mrs Forster, asked him "if he had save bloodshed; that was my motive, not acted hastily in giving his vote for and I am glad I did it." compensation?" "No," replied he. 158 DEATH OF MR WILBERFORCE, [^t. 47. chance and the fairest prospect of a peaceful termination of slavery," but he moved as an amendment that one-half of that sum should not be paid till the apprenticeship should have terminated. He thought this would act as a check upon the planters in their treatment of the apprentices. This amendment was thrown out. Mr Buxton thus writes to a friend on the 1st of August : — " I must tell you how comfortable and happy I feel to-day. Last night at twelve o'clock we got through the committee; the bill, therefore, for the abolition of slavery must pass this session, and may Providence make it a blessing to millions. To-morrow night we have the report, and on Monday the third reading. How grand it is to be so near the top of the mountain, which it has taken ten years to climb ! " The joy with which the abolitionists looked forward to the speedy termination of their labours in behalf of the slaves, was tempered by an event of deep interest to them — the death of Mr Wilberforce. The great leader expired on Monday the 29th of July, having, shortly before his death, exclaimed with fervour, " Thank God that I should have lived to witness a day in which England is willing to give twenty millions sterling for the abolition of slavery." The announcement of his death was received by the House of Commons, then in the midst of the discussion on compensation, with peculiar feeling. Mr Buxton referred to the event, and in expressing his love and admiration for the character of Mr Wilberforce, applied to him the beautiful Ihics of Cowper : — "A veteran warrior in tlie Christian field, Wlio never saw the sword he could not wield ; Whd, when occvision justified its use, Had wit, as bright, as ready, to produce; Could draw from records of an e irlier ago, Or from philiisojihy's rnlightcn'd page His rich material — and regale the ear With strains it was a luxury to bear." !Mr Buxton writes : — "London, AufjiuH 8. " I have been intensely engaged in winding up, or watching the winding up, of this the main object of my life. The bill passed its third reading last night, and I cannot but feel deeply relieved and thankful, great a.s are its faidta. May a blessing be with it ! The f\illeHt toleration we have, I trust, obtained. And now the thing is done; and .all tlii' ey thi; noii-a]>jicarancu (if his lottors. you." "I uiidurstood ynu liad a po-st hero," f Aullior of " Novtheru Field B;iid lio to tholttudloid. "Uh yes, sir," Sports." 1836.] DEATH OF MRS HO ARE. 173 ing about twelve pounds ; they live, for the most part, in larch forests, and are found throughout Sweden and Nor- way. Mr Lloyd sent advertisements for live capercailzie, to the vUlages up the country; these advertisements, accord- ing to the Swedish custom, were read from the pulpits after divine service, and in the course of the winter, thirteen cocks and sixteen hens were procured, which were placed under the care of Larry Banvill, (j\Ir Buxton's faithful Irish game- keeper,) who had been sent to Sweden for the purpose, and by whom they were successfully conveyed to • Taymouth Castle. After a time, they were all turned out into the larch woods at Taymouth, in which they have thriven so well, that they are now stated to amount to about four thousand ; and as several other proprietors have followed the example, and have introduced them from Sweden, there is every reason to expect that this fine bird will become once more naturalised in Scotland. TO THE BISHOP OF CALCUTTA. "Renny Hill, Fife, Scjyfemhe?- 10 , 1S3C. " Our minds have been occupied of late, by a most sad event, the death of my wife's sister. I am sure you must remember Mrs Samuel Hoare of Hampstead. I hardly know how to speak of her as I ought ; she was almost as dear to me as anything upon earth. For more than thirty years I have been united to her in the closest intimacy. In all that time I cannot recollect one moment's ruffle between us, or one word which betokened anything but affection or love. But what is my loss, compared with that of her husband and children ? She came as near perfection as any human being I ever knew. It was not that she had one kind of merit carried to a gi-eat height. She possessed each accomplishment of a female and a Christian in the same rare degree. Soft and gentle as she was, she was no less steadfast, firm, and immovable. To these moral quali- ties, to the most winning manners, to a noble countenance, to the utmost refinement and delicacy, she joined an intellect of a very high order. Her views on every subject were broad and capacious. There was nothing petty about her She laid out her talents to the best advantage, and never was idle. She read a great deal, and turned all her reading to account, as her Tracts, and her Hints on early Education evince I know not why I pour out all this to you, but my mind and my pen can turn to no other subject." After spending a few weeks at Renny Hill, the seat of his son-in-law, ]\Ir Johnston, he returned to Northrepps Hall, and resumed the usual tenor of his life there during the autum- nal months. Every year seemed to increase his delight at leavino; behind him the cares and turmoUs of London. 174 LIFE AT NORTHREPPS. [JEi. 50. His system on coming into the country was, after a tliorough arrangement of his personal affairs, to abandon the first few weeks to the relaxation of field sports. To- Avards the end of October he resumed his settled occupa- tions, and was strict in devoting to them the best hours of the day. He thus adapted to himself the well-known lines of Sir William Jones : — " Secure six hours for thought, and one for prayer, Four in the fields for exercise aud air, The rest let converse, sleep, and business share." Six houi^ may appear a large proportion of his day to give to reflection, but his power of sustained and concentrated thought was unquestionably the most remarkable feature of his mind. Not, indeed, that he had a turn for meditation upon speculative or philosophical questions, but when (as very often happened) his decision was required upon practi- cal matters of an intricate character, he would wrap his mind in reflection upon them, with an intensity not often equalled. He could not, like some, take a question by storm, and in a moment put every doubt to flight ; he seemed to give every difficulty its fullest weight, and to balance the arguments on one side against the arguments on the other, with accurate care ; giving them such close attention, that whatever might be going on around him, his mind could scarcely be diverted by anything from its track. When going to London with various important matters on his hands, he would often take a list of them with him, and, going regularly through it, would clench his mind upon them one after the other, till by dint of strenuous thought, he had mastered all their bearings and made up his mind for ever. Once decided, he seldom turned to the question again. His character may be said to have been formed of a durable material, so that an impression once cfi"cctually made, seemed never to be obliterated, scarcely even to lose the sharpness of its edge, by the lapse of years.* This quality was seen in lesser as well as in greater matters, and in no instance was it more displayed than in the important point of order. The love of order, and • In early life he wa« often unpunc- worship and joining in the confession, tual in his attondanco at church ; but lie was thoroughly convinced, and was nftcr hearing a Kcriiion from the Ilov. never again (as ho said hiinsclf, thirty Samuel Crowllicr, on tlie duly of being years after), lalo at church througli jproBcnl ut the beginning of pubhc carelessness. 1836.] HABITS OF ORDER. 175 power to maintain it, had certainly not been given liini by nature ; for many busy years of his life, his study, wher- ever it might happen to be, seemed a chaos of confusion, crowded with heaps of books and papers, letters and docu- ments, unsorted and unlabelled, — nor would he allow any one to touch them. But in the year 1827, he was vividly impressed by a casual view of the order and precision main- tained in one of the Government offices. After the illness of that year, when he could not bear mental application, a favourable opportunity presented itself for carrying out his resolution, to have his " papers in subjection." For three weeks he devoted himself, with his domestic helpers, to this task ; every document in his possession, pubhc and private, was looked over, folded to a certain size, with its contents accurately endorsed upon it, and then classified. The parcels of papers were tied up in boards made to the same size, legibly marked ; the more copious subjects, such as slavery, filling many of these packets, under different Bubdivisions. Pigeon holes in his book-cases and other expedients were provided, by which these packets were so placed as to be instantly accessible. The work once ac- complished, he never relaxed in it again ; from this time to the end of his life every paper that came into his hands was subjected to the same regulations, and his various secretaries will remember the playful but unremitting strict- ness, with which he required the execution of his plans in this respect. The same principle extended to all his pecu- niary aifairs. He had some unalterable rules about money matters which preserved him from the dangers that might otherwise have resulted from his natural tendency to free expenditure. In his private accounts he was exact, but not minute ; and once a year he thoroughly investigated the whole state of his property. At the beginning of his private ledger, the following sentences were written : — "'What need so much provision for so short a journey.' Hop- kins, vol. iv. p. 57. " ' What a nothing it is that we make so much of, and follow so greedily, and hold so fast ! ' — Baxter, vol. iii. p. 429. " ' To work our own contentment, we should not labour so much to increase our substance as to moderate our desires.' — Bishop Sanderson. " ' He that getteth riches, and not by right, shall leave them in 176 LOVE OF READING. [^t. 50. the midst of his clays, and at his end shall be a fool.' " — Jeremiah, chap. xvii. verse 11. He "was an excellent man of business, handling minute details with ease and unfailing patience, yet always keeping his eye fixed upon their general scope and bearing. Before undertaking anything, he would ponder over the matter for days together, weighing it and examining it again and again before he put his shoulder to the wheel. But though he was too deliberate to be a vehement man, he was in the highest degree energetic. He feared neither fatigue nor labour. When once resolved to act, he threw his whole heart and soul into the attainment of the object before him; every wish and feeling became swept into the vortex ; nothing else seemed capable of attracting his interest, nor would he leave it till it was done, and done well. Except that his hospitalities were more bounded by want of room, liis life at Northrepps was much the same as it had been at Cromer Hall, domestic, yet social. The mornings were spent, as has been said, in his study or with his gun ; and after dinner he usually lay upon the sofa, while some one read aloud to him from the passing literature of the day. Reading, in fact, filled up every leisure hour ; he never tired of listening to it. " Well, what shall we read 1 " was the first question upon his en- tering the drawing-room He had a great taste for biography, perhaps stUl more for works of humour; but especially he had, as he said himself, an " insatiable thirst for military adventure." His love of poetry has been alluded to before, and he endeavoured to cultivate the same taste in those about him. Eveiy Sunday evening his children were expected to repeat a passage of poetry, and he always required the utmost fluency and accuracy in tlie repetition : he insisted also on the reciter looking him full in the face while going through the task. He distri- Tmtcd Ills rewards freely, and his guests used to be play- fully invited to join in the exercise, and received their half- crown with the rest. His frequent quotations (especially from Sliakspeare, I'opc and I )ry(len) shewed how thoroughly his mind was imbued with the writings of the principal English poets. Johnson's " Vanity of Human Wishes" was a favourite with him. On the well-known lines — 1836.] DELIGHT IN POETRY. 177 " In life's last scene, what prodigies arise — Fears of the brave, and follies of the wise." " I take that,'' he remarked, "to be one of the truest things ever said in poetry; but," he added, "the word 'last' should be omitted. Life is crowded with 'fears of the brave, and follies of the wise.' " With Cowper's poems he became acquainted somewhat late in life. He was with a shooting party at the seat of Mr Villebois, in Norfolk, when, being driven in by rain, and thoroughly wetted, he retreated to his room. It happened that there was no book there but a volume of Cowper's poems. He read them for hours, and ever after- wards took the greatest delight in them. For more modern poetry he had less taste, but to that of Sir Walter Scott he would listen again and again with the keenest enjoyment. When tea was finished, he usually walked into his study, and returned after a time with any letters or papers con- nected with his undertakings, that he might have received or wTitten in the course of the day, and the reading of these, with the discussions upon them, which he encouraged, usually occupied the remainder of the evening. In all mis- sionary enterprises he took the liveliest interest, listening ■with avidity to intelligence of their progress. Many private communications of this nature were also made to him ; especially from Africa and the West Indies. He annually made himself complete master of the affairs and proceedings of the Bible Society, his fidelity to which never wavered. "I am ready to confess," he once wrote, "that there is no cause, not even emancipation itself, to which I would more readily give a helping hand than to the Bible Society." And some mention ought also to be made of the part he took in the establishment of the London City Mission. He was not alarmed, as so many were at that time, by the novelty and boldness of the experiment ; its catholic char- acter was completely to his taste, and it always received his generous support. His family were early trained to take an interest in his pursuits, and to share in his hopes and fears ; he encou- raged the remarks and the criticisms even of its younger members, and would accept from them the most trivial assistance. Indeed, he seemed to have a strong feeling of 178 HIS DOMESTIC CHARACTER. [MioO. personal gratitude to any one wlio would share his solici- tude for the welfare of his black clients. " From the time that I became closely connected with him," writes Mr John- ston, " I saw how much of his time and mind were given to his great objects, in his domestic circle, as well as in his study. He had a happy art of imbuing all those around him with his own feehngs, and of inducing them to give him their most strenuous aid. He was, indeed, a delightful chief to work for, so stimulating, yet so indulgent, and so ready to repay, with lavish liberality, every effort, however trifling, made on behalf of those to whom he was devoting not labour only, but life itself. . . . His generosity, in fact, was unbounded — he seemed to watch for opportunities of heaping kindness upon those he loved." The extreme tenderness of his feelings was especially shewn if any of them were in sickness or distress ; or when he received them again under his roof after any lengthened absence. " Never, I think," observed one, " was such a welcome seen on any human face." His papers bear witness to his ceaseless prayers for the members of his family ; they are individually mentioned, on every occasion, with discri- minating afiection, and strikmg, indeed, was the solemnity and the fervour with which he poured out his supplications. As a parent he was remarkably indidgent : a trivial in- stance maybe quoted from one of his letters to Mrs Buxton : — " I write now about the coursing to-morrow. As did not behave well and kindly, you were quite right in deciding to deprive him of the si>ort to-morrow ; but, as it is so very great a pleasure to think of him as happy and enjoying himself, I hope you will for this time excuse him, and that he will make a point of repaying the indulgence by very good behaviour. Thus we shall think of him as happy and good too." * Nothing was more remarkable than the activity of his kindness in small things : the pains he would take to give ]»leasurc. In the midst of his business he would lielp liis cliildren to find their lost playtliings, or go out himself to buy wliat they niiglit want ; nor did they fear to interrupt his studies with the Tuost trilling requests. At the time of his hardest work in London, he would often, on his way to tlie House, buy i)ictures, and conceal them in his waste- ♦ In ordor that this lottor iriiKht bo in time for tho coursing, ho sent a man over with it from Norwich, a iliataimo of twenty-four milus. 1836.] CONDUCT AS A FATHER. 179 paper basket, to enjoy the glee of liis younger cliildren, and their daily renewed astonishment at discovering them there in the morning. His manner to them, as they grew older, is shewn in the following casual mention of it in a letter from one of his sons, then a mere boy : — " I cannot help being struck with the exquisite tenderness of heart which my father always displays ; his unwillingness to debar us from pleasure, the zeal with which he will make any sacrifice, or take any trouble to gratify us, is most surprising. One little example to-day will describe his whole conduct. He, being really unwell, was lying nearly asleep on the sofa, and observing me ufion another, with my feet hanging over the side, he quietly got up, placed a chair under them, and then lay down again. His whole appearance, with his worn and thoughtful face, is so much that of a man whom one would approach with some sensation of awe, that these small, though ex- quisite, acts of tenderness are the more unexpected, and, conse- quently, the more pleasing." He occasionally, but very rarely, gave direct admonitions. The following letter was addressed to one of his sons on entering Trinity College, Cambridge : — " It is always a disappointment to me to be absent when my boys are at home ; but I particularly regretted being away last week, as I think I might have done something for your shooting before you went to College. I need not, I hope, tell you of the extreme inte- rest I take in the launch of your little skiff on the ocean of life, and how heartily I desire that ' soft airs and gentle heavings of the wave ' may accompany your voyage ; and that you may be safely piloted into the serene and lovely harbour prepared by the love of God. It is not often that I trouble my children with advice ; and never, I believe, unless I have something particular to say. At the present time, I think I have that to say which is deeply important to your success in the business of life ; nay, its effects may extend beyond the grave. You are now a man, and I am persuaded that you must be prepared to hold a very inferior station in life to that which you might fill, unless you resolve, with God's help, that whatever you do you will do it u'ell ; unless you make up your mind that it is better to accomplish perfectly a very small amount of work than to half-do ten times as much. What you do know, know thoroughly. There are few instances in modern times of a rise equal to that of Sir Edward Sugden. After one of the "Weymouth elections, I was shut up with him in a carriage for twenty-four hours. I ventured to ask him what was the secret of his success ; his answer was, ' I resolved, when beginning to read law, to make every thing I acquired perfectly my own, and never to go to a second thing till I had entirely accomplished the first. Many of my competitors read as much in a day as I read in a week ; but, at the end of twelve months, my know- ISO LETTER TO ONE OF HIS SONS. [JEt. 50. ledge was as fresh as on tlie day it was acquired, while theirs had glided away from their recollection.' " Let the same mascuhne determination to act to some purpose go through your hfe. Do the day's work to-day. At college I was extremely intimate with two young men, both of extraordinary talents. The one was always ahead of his tutor ; he was doing this year the work of next year, and although, upon many parts of the subject, he knew more than his examiner, yet he contrived to answer what was actually proposed to him most scandalously ; — while the other, by knowing perfectly what it was his business to know (though not confining himself to that), never, to the best of my recollection, failed to answer any question that was put to him. " Again, be punctual. I do not mean the merely being in time for lectures, &c. ; but I mean that spirit, out of which pimctuality grows, that love of accuracy, precision, and vigour, which makes the efficient man ; the determination, that what you have to do, shall be done, in spite of all petty obstacles, and finished ofi", at once, and finally. I believe I have told you the story of Nelson and his coach- maker, but you must hear it once more. When he was on the eve of departure for one of his great expeditions, the coachmaker said to him, ' The carriage shall be at the door punctually at six o'clock.' * A quarter before,' said Nelson, ' I have always been a quarter of an hour before my time, and it has made a man of me.' " How often have I seen persons who would have done well, if they would but have acted up to their own sense of duty ! Thank- ful I am to believe that conscience is the established ruler over your actions ; but I want to enlarge its province, and to make it conde- scend to these, which may appear to you minor matters, Have a conscience to be fitting yourself for life, in whatever you do, and in the management of your mind and powers. In Scripture phrase, ' Gird up the loins of your mind.' Sheridan was an example of the want of this quality. In early life, he got into a grand quarrel and duel, the circumstances of which were to his credit (always except- ing the fighting the duel), but they were misrepresented : he came to town, resolved to set the British public right, and as Perry, the editor of the Morning Clironicle, was his friend, he resolved to do so, through the channel of that paper. It was agreed between thetn that Sheridan, under a fictitious name, should write a history of the affair, as it had been misrepresented, and that he should subsequently ri-jily to it in his own name, giving the facts of the case. The first part he accomplished, and there api)eared in the Chronicle a bitter article against him, written, in fact, by himself; but he could never find time to write the answer, and it never was written : ' The sloth- ful man ro:usteth not that which he took in hunting.' " All the men who have done things well in life, have been re- markable for meet Wclliiigtou at Waterloo, did actually start on that day ; but lie haxl h(j arranged matters, and travelled with Buch eipe- dition, that he took the British army by sur^iriso. 1836.] LETTER TO ONE OF HIS SONS. 181 " The punctuality which I desire for you involves and compre- hends the exact arrangement of your time. It is a matter on wliich much depends ; fix how much time you will spend upon each object, and adhere, all but obstinately, to your plan. ' Method,' says Cecil, ' is like packing things in a box ; a good packer will get in haK as much again as a bad one.' My letter, I see, is swelling into a sermon, but the day is fine, and Larry is waiting, so I must bring it to a close. Ponder well what I have said, and call on God to help you in arraying yourself in the quaUties which I desire. If you mean to be the efi"ective man, you must set about it earnestly, and at once. No man ever yet ' ya\vned it into being with a wish ; ' you must make arrangements for it ; you must watch it ; you must notice when you fail, and you must keep some kind of journal of your failures. " But, whatever negligence may creep into your studies, or into your pursuits of pleasure or of business, let there be one point, at least, on which you are always watchful, always alive ; I mean in the per- formance of your religious duties. Let nothing induce you, even for a day, to neglect the perusal of Scripture. You know the value of prayer ; it is precious beyond all price. Never, never neglect it. " Well, my dear boy, or man if you please, if I have been some- what hard upon you in parts of this letter, you must excuse me, remembering that few have a father so deeply and tenderly attached as you have ; or one, in general, more blind to defects, or more keen- eyed in the discernment of excellences. — Your most affectionate friend and father, T. Fowell Buxton." A few of Mr Buxton's parliamentary reminiscences, as taken down by one of his friends, may be worth, inserting ; — Me. Buxton. — "I was several years in Parliament with Lord Castlereagh. He had some excellent qualities for a leader, and some very much the reverse. Hia temper was admirable, but then in speaking he was strangely obscure, and sometimes made the most queer blunders, so that occasionally, in the midst of a pathetic speech, he would say something which would make the whole House burst out laughing. " Huskisson gave me a melancholy account of Castlereagh's last days. He had taken up the idea that none of his colleagues would speak to him. It made him miserable, and nothing could drive it from his mini At length he was obliged to give a Cabinet dinner, but he was confident that none of the ministers would come, and most unhappy the idea made him. Huskisson was the first to arrive, and he was received with such extravagant warmth and cordiality, as was quite incomprehensible to him. The rest came, and every- thing went on smoothly, till at last he counted them and said, ' There is one too few — Palmerston is not here : the others are all my private friends, but you see Palmerston won't come.' His gloom instantly re- turned, and he did not speak again the whole evening. A day or two after he put an end to his life. Clerk says that no man would shoot himself if he took two doses of physic beforehand ; and probably if poor Castlereagh had consulted a doctor, he might have been alive now. "Nothing was ever so delightful as to hear Canning make a fine, 182 ANECDOTES. [^t. 50. rich, poetical speech, and then Tierney pull it to pieces. But Tiemey has no name, wonderful as he was. That is because he never did anything ; but to be sure his talents were surpassing. He had the moat delicate wit : everybody we hear now is coarse, blunt, and gross, compared to him. The House was extremely fond of him ; let him rise when he would, it would listen to him with eagerness. He deserted his party, and joined Lord Sidmouth's government at last. It was, however, inscribed on his tomb, or proposed to be so, ' He lived without an office, and died without a debt.' *' Canning could be extremely entertaiuing too, but his speeches were evidently prepared and polished. He was the first man I ever heard speak in the House, and I remember asking my neighbour who it was. There was, also, when I first went into Parliament, another man of remarkable talents — Mr Ward, afterwards Lord Dudley and Ward. He, too, finished his speeches down to the minutest comma, and he only made one or two in a year. " The first time I heard Chalmers was. in a chapel on the other side of the river. It was so crowded that Canning and Wilberf orce had to climb in at the window. Seven years after I hard Canning make that sermon the substance of a speech on the Catholic question. " A certain member of Parliament changed his opinions rather rapidly after losing a place in the Government. Whereupon my friend S quoted Lord Bacon's words, 'The two great alterants of human opinion are time and i:)lace. Now,' said he, ' in this case time there has been none, so . . . ,' but the remainder of the sentence was drowned in the laughter and applause of the House. " Sir Robert Peel's Currency Act enormously increased the na- tional debt. It certainly was one of the boldest measures that have been done in our time, but probably the author of it scarcely fore- saw the whole result. But it was perhaps an act of justice. When Attwood opposed it, Mr Grote said he was like the unjust steward in the parable : ' How much owest thou ? An hundred measm'es of oil — then take thy bill, sit down quickly, and write fifty.' " When Peel's Currency Bill was passing, Hudson Gurney moved an amendment, in which six members only supported him ; of whom I was one, and Mr Wodchouse another. Three daj's afterwards, however, the ministers, who had reconsidered the question, came d(jwn to the House, and carried that very amendment by a large majority. So we received the title of ' the seven wise men.' " 1 lately dined in company with Sir James Scarlet. I asked him what was the secret of his pre-eminent success as an advocate. He replied, that he took care to press home the one principal point of the case, without paying much regard to the others. He also said that he knew the secret of being short. I find, said he, that when I (r.xueud half an hour, I am always doing mischief to my client; if I drive into the heads of the jury important matter, I drive out mat- tor more important, which 1 liad previoiusly lodged there." One event of the year 183G had been the marriage of Mr Buxton's eldest son to Catherine, second daughter of Samuel Gurnoy, E.sq., of llani Ifouse, Essex. 1836.] LETTER FROM BELLFIELD. 183 Soon afterwards, he writes to Mrs Buxton, from Bellfield : — " It is now five o'clock ; we dine at half-past ; the interval, my dearest wife, is reserved for you. I have much enjoyed being here; I went off from London very comfortably, having the coach to my- self almost the whole way. I slept the first stage and the last, so I had from seven in the morning till seven at night, to read and re- flect ; and I was very happy, and I feel Tery strongly, perhaps never BO strongly, that mercy and goodness have followed me all the days of my life. Others may deny that there is a special Providence, but it is too barefaced a lie for me. What kept me from the Brewery at fourteen, sent me to college, and made me avail myself of its ad- vantages ? What led me to Earlham ? . . . . What placed me in so prosperous a business, without which I never could have thought of public Hfe ? What placed me under Pratt's ministry, where my eyes were first opened to real truth ; and what sent severe illness to con- firm and ripen the impression made at Wheeler Chapel ? What placed me in Parliament, and kept me there for neai-ly twenty years, in spite of almost desperate probabilities against me ? What made my mother sow the seeds of abhorrence of slavery in my mind ; and dear Priscilla exhort me to undertake the subject, when she was dying, and Wilberforce commit it to me, when he became unable to continue the task ? I could go on till the dinner-bell to-morrow evening, recounting the instances in which I have seen the finger of a blessed and divine Providence. " I looked yesterday and to-day, in walking through this serene place, at the present posture of our affairs, and I could see only cheering prospects and causes of deep thankfulness But in none have I had a greater sense of comfort and of God's mercy than in one who, though not here to cheer us, is in the regions of perfect bliss. I can contemplate his state, and the dealings of Providence Vv'ith us, as concerns him, and be very thankful, and very sure, in feeling as well as in reason, that all is right." In his often repeated visits to Bellfield, he shewed him- self in quite a new character. His uncle, who was very fond of him, and towards whom he felt like a son, treated him, to the last, as quite a young man, and it was amusing to observe the happy mixture of deference and decision, playfulness and respect, with which his uncle's continual admonitions, especially with regard to his health, were re- ceived by one who was generally somewhat impatient of the micalled-for interference of others. From his numerous letters to his uncle, the following may be given : — TO CHARLES BUXTON, ESQ., AT BELLFIELD. " NoKTHREPPS Hall, December 31, Eleven o'clock at night. " Mt Deab Uncle, — In the first place, as the old year is just go- O 184 DEATH OF HIS SISTER-IN-LAW. [^t. 50. ing, I must wish that the new one may be a really happy one to you and my aunt. I hope that you both will pass through it in health and comfort. No nephew had ever more reason for this sin- cere wish than myself, and few nephews have so truly desired it. The termination of one year and the beginning of another is always a time of much reflection with me. I look back to the past year, and see innumerable errors and sins ; and forward to the coming year, and consider that, before it terminates, I may be called to judg- ment. Eternity is at hand with us all. Happy they, and only they, who know that they have no merit which can save them, who look for mercy only through Christ, who repent of past sins, desire to do God's will while on earth, and believe on Christ, that He can and will save those who obey Him, and trust in Him. I know you are never offended by my talking on such subjects, and they naturally spring up in my mind just as a new year is coming." The thoughts expressed in this letter were brought strongly home to him but a short time afterwards, by the sudden death of his sister-in-law, Lady Harriet Gurney, for whom he entertained the warmest affection. On the day of her funeral he wrote home : — " In seeing her coffin com- mitted to the vault, I could not but feel, that it contained all that remained of as much beauty and true loveliness of mind, body, and spirit as we ever saw removed from this world." As usual, the year was closed by him with an enumera- tion of the mercies received during its course. To his list of domestic blessings, he now adds his little grandson, who, he says, " is a source of delight and infinite amusement." He proceeds : — " The accounts from the West Indies of the conduct of our negroes is gratifying in the last degree; so that that subject, which, for eleven years, was a source of daily disquietude, is now the refresh- ment and solace to which I continually turn. The history of the past year is of favours heaped upon me and mine, on the right hand and on the left." CHAPTER XXIII. 1837, 1838. In the course of the year 1834, Mr Buxton had investigated the questir)n of tlie treatment of the native tribes in our va- rious colonics, and had moved for a committee to inquire fully into the suliject. This committee sat for three sessions, and obtained a vast amount of valuable information, and the drawing up of its rcjiort was intrusted to Mr Buxton as its 1836.] ABORIGINES' REPORT. 185 cliairman. He was anxious to render this report a sort of manual for the future treatment of aboriginal nations, in connexion with our colonies. Its object was to prove, first, the destructive cruelty to which the native tribes had gene- rally been subjected : and, secondly, that wherever they had received equitable and humane treatment, they had increased in numbers, acquired the arts of civUized Hfe, and accepted the blessings of religion. During this session, he was chiefly occupied in com- pleting and carrying this report through the committee. Before it was printed, it was carefully revised by Sir George Grey, and it appears to have had considerable weight with the Government in promoting the equitable treatment of the natives in our colonial dominions. It was with peculiar satisfaction that he saw this work completed ; for it was very doubtful whether he would long have the opportunity of continuing his exertions in the House of Commons. The death of the King, on the 20th of June, produced an immediate dissolution of Parliament, and Mr Buxton's return for Weymouth had never before appeared so insecure. to charles buxton, esq., bellpield. " Spitalfields, 1837. "My Dear Uncle, — You must not be alarmed about the election. .... I really think I should not be happy, or feel that I had done my duty, if I were to retire. I think (though, perhaps, it is absurd vanity to say so,) that my being in Parliament is of some little conse- quence to the negroes in the West Indies; to the oppressed natives of our colonies ; and to the inhabitants of Africa exposed to the slave trade. As the first are nearly one million, the second three miUions, and the third a great many millions, it would not be right to give up a chance, if it were only a chance, of being returned, merely because there may be some little humiliation to myself in being turned out. " I don't care a straw about the disgrace. If I am turned out, I cau't help it : I have done my best, and shall be satisfied. But if I were to go out of my own accord, I think my conscience would reproach me. Besides aU which, I do not think they can turn me out quite so easily as they imagine." The following letter was addressed to Mr Joseph John Gurney, who was about to proceed to America, on a reli- gious visit to the Society of Friends : — " Ham House, June 25, 1837. " I think it i^ hardly possible for any one, at least of our harder sex, to feel more thau I do, in all that concerns your going to 186 CORRESPONDENCE. [JEt. 51. America. "We have been bound together for not far short of forty years in one cloudless friendship. As boy and man, I have been partner in all your fortunes, and you in mine. I do not believe you ever, by word or deed, gave me a momentary vexation. You, I dare say, are not aware how you have refreshed and encouraged me in my career ; in truth, I look to you with almost boundless affec- tion and gratitude. It is against the grain with me to let you go without seeing you again, but I fear it must be so. After much deliberation, I have resolved to go down to Weymouth. The way in which Parliament affects my health has had great weight in the one scale, but, in the other, there are three gi'eat points — West India negi-oes. East India slavery, and the Brazilian slave trade. If it w-ere the West India negroes alone, I believe I should retire, be- cause nine-tenths of the work is done, and because there is feeUng enough in the country to accomplish the remainder, and persons enough willing and able to call forth that feeling. I am steadfast in the belief, that that great experiment has been, and will continue to be crowned with more complete success than the most sanguine among us anticipated. I know very well that evil influences are working hard against it, and that thousands of the negroes are ex- posed to cruel injustice. Nevertheless I do rejoice, and will re- joice in the extinction of slavery; and the more I see of the post- humous brood, the more I rejoice in the death of the old parent dragon. " And now, my dear brother, if I do not see you before your de- parture, I take leave of you with a heart full of lov^e, with the most pleasant and grateful remembrance of you, and with the most ear- nest prayers for your safety, comfort, and peace, for the full success of your mission, and for your fruition of all that is contained in these words, ' Fear thou not, for I am with thee ; be not dismayed, for I am thy God. I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.' " On the day that the Queen dissolved Parliament, he ■WTitos to Mrs S. Gurney, whose aged mother he had visited on the previous day : — "July 17, 1837. " I this day saw our youthful Queen surrovnided by all the chief officers of state, herself wearing a crown of diamonds, and arrayed in royal robes, and the House of Lords filled with all the great ones of thf country. She delivered an admirable address to the Parlia- ment, with the utmost sweetness of voice and the most exquisite grace of manner ; and yet this spectacle has left a less pleasing, a IcHH lively impression on my mind than the sight which I had yes- terday the pleasure of witnessing, — of an aged Christian, refined and purified, her work completed, waiting in patient cheerfulness tlie will of her Lord. That is a sight full of instruction and conso- lation. So much nnist I say, my dear sister, and you may repeat it to her who is ready to depart and to be with Christ." In July, he went down to the election at Weymouth. 1837.] DEFEAT AT WEYMOUTH. 187 TO MKS BUXTON. "Bellfield, July 25, 1837. " Here I am looking out on this splendid view ; nothing can be more calm. I have passed a restless night, and have been awake for hours. " This day will, I expect, make an entire revolution in my voca- tion. I have no expectation of being returned. When I look at some of the arts that have been employed, I am haK ready to be provoked ; but when I turn to the Creator of these fields, and those waters, and remember that all events are in His hands, that nothing occurs but at His bidding, I am restored to full peace. He ordereth all events, and that is reason enough for satisfaction ; and though, for the moment, we are carried away by the current, it is not very difficult to perceive that we shall derive a hundred family benefits from my exclusion from Parliament. I look upon myself as an old horse turned out to grass, and it is folly to worry myself by sup- posing that other and better steeds will not be found to do the work. " I must now get ready. I do not expect to be in any way dis- turbed by the events of the day ; but before it closes I shall be a man of leisure; that is no mean blessing: a man, not slaving himself to death, but with time to walk, to read, to sleep, to reflect — and better than these, time to pray. " One o'clock. Well, my dearest wife, your wishes are realised ; the troubles and worries of Parliament are over with me ; and now we must be as happy, as healthy, and as long-lived as possible. I am perfectly well satisfied with the result, and view it as a release from a vast deal of labour." That the cause of this defeat was not any diminution of personal attachment to him on the part of his constituents, was evident from the strong expressions of grief on all sides at his rejection. But the Tory party had for some years been increasing in local influence, and did not scruple to employ a degree of intimidation till then unknown in the borough. In Mr Buxton's farewell address to the electors he distinctly states : — " During twenty years in elections, seven of which have been severely contested, I have had the opportunity of ascertaining the motives which actuate almost every individual in this borough, and I gladly state this fact, so honourable to the poorer electors of this town, viz., that I never paid any man one sixpence for his vote, and never, except in two instances, was asked to do so." TO JOSEPH JOHN GURNET, ESQ., IN AMERICA. " Upton, Jul)/ 30, 1837. " Before I went down to Weymouth, I began to fear ; for one of my supporters told me that if I wished to secure the election, it would be necessary to open public houses and to lend money (a gentle name for bribery) to the extent of £1000. I of course declined. It 188 TESTIMONIAL TO MR BUXTON. [^t. 51. might or it might not be my duty to get into Parliament, but it could not be my duty to corrupt the electors by beer and bank-notes. " At the close of the poll I went with Edward to the booth, where my opponents and their friends were collected, shook hands with them, wished them joy, walked about the town for half-anhour with Barlow and Edward to cheer up my friends, who were sadly out of spirits, and then went to Bellfield, where we passed a very cheerful evening ; and up to this moment, not one shade of regret on my own account, however slight, however transient, has passed over my mind, at the memory of my departed honours. " The next morning, about eighty of my constituents came up. I ran to the balcony, and began a cheerful speech ; but I soon found I was entirely out of tune. I went down amongst them, and then made them an oration. It could not help being a feeling one ; cer- tainly I never saw a greater appearance of regret I have not half described the manifestation of feeling which took place in the town. The children set themselves to work to collect subscriptions to give me a piece of plate. The men are also doing the same thing on their part. The very Tories, they say, are disconsolate ! In the evening, several of the working men who had not joined the procession in the morning, came up to bid me farewell ; and at six o'clock the next morning, when I got into the coach, there was an assemblage of them looking sadly downcast. Spite of all this lamen- tation, I have been in great glee the whole time. I am right glad that I stood — right glad that I have got a holiday. My own impres- sion is, that I could not have stood the fatigues of ParUament many sessions more ; and perhaps this turning out to grass may, in the long rim, enable me to do more work, if I should have the privilege of being called to it. I saw , who said more about the regret of Government, than I should like to repeat. On the other hand, Dr Holland has sent me a message by Samuel Hoare, of warm con- gratulation. " I had fully resolved, had I continued in Parliament, to have sent you a kind of journal of notable events ; but in my present non-effective condition, I am not likely to have anything more inte- resting to tell you, than the history of the pigs and poultry at North- repps. As I leave Parliament for health, I do not by any means intend to defeat that end by dedicating myself to any other objects. I mean, for conscience' sake, to ride, slioot, amuse myself, and grow fat and flourishing." From no less than twenty-seven different places were ])roposal3 made to Mr Buxton to stand as a candidate ; but he felt at liberty to take advantage of the opportune repose afforded him, and accordingly declined tlieni all. TO CHARLES BUXTON, ESQ., AT BELLFIELD. " Octohcr, 1837. " I take shooting very easy this year, having always a shooting, jpony with me ; he ia a wonder, has as good action as your old leader, and is aa handaome ; aa quiet as a lamb, and strong enough to carry 1837,1838.] NEGRO APPRENTICESHIP. 18D and sometimes does carry, Mr Hoare and myself together, eats bread and cheese, drinks beer, is a particularly good judge of porter, and prefers ours." TO EDWARD N. BUXTON, ESQ. "November, 1837. " I have again made an alteration in my gun-stock, contrary to your advice. I have shot execrably all the year, and could stand it no longer, so I employed a Holt carpenter to hew me a stock, accord- ing to my own fancy, out of the trunk of a tree. It is in its primi- tive simplicity, and is so wide as to ' contrive the double debt to pay,' of stock while shooting, and table at luncheon ; but rough and awkward as it is, I shall, I trust, take the conceit out of the young men with it. " I have been calculating that since Parliament closed I have rid- den 500 miles, and walked 1500. ' Better to hunt in fields for health unbought, Tlian fee the doctor for a nauseous draught. The wise, for cure, on exercise depend.' " So sings Dryden, and what he preached I practise. " I shall send you a basket to-night, as proof that my log of a gun- stock can do execution. . . . We are very happy here. If you catch the iniiuenza, lie up at once — principiis ohsta." » At the end of 1837, a work was published by Messrs Sturge and Scoble, who had visited the West Indies, de- scribing the condition of the negro apprentices, and such general indignation was excited by their narrative, that from all parts of the country were delegates sent to London, in the beginning of 1838, to urge the discontinuance of the apprenticeship system. Mr Buxton, for some time, refused to join them, which excited great displeasure among some of his old friends. On the 23d of March he received a letter from Dr Lush- ington, urging him to come to town and meet the delegates, and he accordingly left Northrepps for London, and after much deliberation he determined to join them. " I went," he says, " to the meeting of the delegates ; they were very cordial. I told them freely my mind, and some of it was not much to their liking, I dare say. Among the rest that I praised Glenelg." On the 30th of March Sir George Strickland brought forward a motion for the abolition of the apprenticeship, but it was lost by a majority of 64. Mr Buxton thus describes the evening, having been present under the gallery : — " London, March 31, 1838. " I am alive, after having been in the detestable position of having 190 SIR GEORGE STRICKLAND'S MOTION. [JEt. 52. to sit for ten hours, last night, in the House of Commons, to be shot at by everybody, without the possibility of firing one round in re- turn. I would have given something to be allowed to speak, and I literally was two or three times upon the point of springing up. Gladstone, Lord John RusseU, Grey, &c., would have it that I was a friend to the apprenticeship, because I sold an unavailing divi- sion on it, in committee, for the sohd profit of getting them to in- sert a clause for unqualified freedom, when the apprenticeship should cease." In consequence of what had been stated in this debate, Mr Buxton addressed a letter to Lord John Russell, in which he proved that he had been throughout a steady opponent of the apprenticeship system. He went about the same time to see Mr Macaulay, whom he found very iU. '■ God bless you and yours," said his aged friend, " I sympathise in aU your trials, I concur in all your opinions, and your visits to me are as water to the thirsty soul." He died soon after, just before the complete consum- mation of all his labours ; for in the same month. Sir Eardley Wilmot gained, by a majority of three, a motion against tjje apprenticeship ; and the planters afterwards agreed to sur- render it on the 1st of August 1838. "The apprentice- ship is abolished," writes Mr Buxton ; "thank God for that." " I bless God for the event," he says, in a letter to Mr Sturge : " I bless God, that He, who has always raised up agents such as the crisis required, sent you to the West Indies. I bless God, that during the apprenticeship, not one act of violence against the per- son of a white man has, as I believe, been perpetrated by a negro, and I cannot express my grateful exultation that those whom the colonial law so recently reckoned as brute beasts, ' the fee simple absolute whereof resided in their owners,' will so soon be invested with the full rights of man Let none of us forget that those who are emancijiated wUl be assailed with many an attempt to curb and crush their liberty ; nor that two millions of human chattels in the East Indies require our j)rotection ; nor that the slave trade, of all evils the monster evil, still defiles and darkens one quarter of the globe. May that same public voice, which has now been so hapjtily exert(!'ot as ill northern climes, obscuiely bright, But nnc nnolondod bl.-ize of livinix lif^ht, O'er the hushed deep tlio yellow beam lie throws, Gild.s tlio groon wave that trembles as it glows,' i^ # LTjCKt ,^^ HP©' r.Al\^_^^ 'M DEC 8^*^ .nil ],'.! Sri-icx 1 I 1 « ic «: 3 3 1158 00020 9154 HV b8a^ 1872 UC SOUTHERN R! filOMAL LIBRARY FACILITY A 001 385 019 3